Calculated Risk
by robinh
Summary: This fic starts after episode 10 of the second season the North Korea one . Kono and Steve with some new surprises. Re-appearing guest stars. Maybe new guest stars as well. The usual.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hawaii Five 0, if I would, Kono would have been treated better... I'm only taking the wonderful characters and play with them for fun, I'll give them right back on time for season 3. **

**A/N: **This fic will incorporate most of the characters from my previous fics such as Mary Ann, Kono's mom, Malia, maybe more...

Starts after S02E10.

Please tell me what you think. It takes me a while until I form an opinion on what I write and where I want to go, and your reviews are the best thing you can do to help me out. They are also make me very happy.

Hope you'll like it.

R.

* * *

It happens sometime after he's back from North Korea. Maybe he was tortured there worse than he thinks. it's all a blur really, the blows to his body, the electric shocks, the lack of sleep, and dehydration, must have screwed up with his head or something, and he can only blame himself, because he knew the risks, and the implications of going in there. After they took Jenna and him, the torture part was almost anticipated, and he should consider himself lucky to only suffer this temporarily loss of sanity as a consequence. Tortures are not a game. For crying out loud, he read the fucking manual at basic training, and even went through the actual thing. _Twice_. His big mouth and uncontrolled tendency to refuse authority made him the first SEAL to ever be punished with being forced to go under interrogations training series two times in a row. This was sheer luck, really, because by the consuming rage he saw on his CO's face at the time, it was obvious he was a promising candidate for a third time, too.

So, maybe this is all just a late reaction to being tortured. At least, this is his story, and he's sticking by it. They can't make him change his story even with physical tortures, which wa exactly his original point.

()()()

He goes back to work after only one day of recuperating at home. He does it despite the very vocal objections of both Chin and Danny, but if they think he's going to stay home to nurse his wounds, climbing the fucking walls with boredom, they are sadly mistaken. Besides, he has to get away from the house because Lori keeps showing up there, bringing special treats and home cooked food and tries to take care of him. He didn't need a woman to take care of him in the last twenty one years, and he certainly doesn't need one now. He doesn't know what is exactly the problem with her, but she makes him restless and on edge every time she's around. If he wasn't too embarrassed to confess it, he would say he's kinda scared of her. He doesn't usually get scared of people, Wo fat's special treatment is another proof of that, so he can't tell for sure. Tactically speaking, he just thinks he shouldn't be alone with her in the same space, leave alone his own house, especially when he's still too weak to fight her off, if needed. If it means having Danny screaming at him for being an ass, then let be it.

()()()

It's good to know he can always count on Danny. The minute he gets in HQ, his partner is all over him, shouting and cursing and flailing his arms in the air, demanding of him to go home. Apparently, Chin shares the same opinion, only he does it in a lower and more leveled voice, so it's easier to bare with his splitting headache. As Chin is much too happy these days to care about anything, and he can take Danny's abuse, if only as a matter of habit, he only has to find a way to avoid Lori with her unnerving eagerness to please him, and he will be all set. He knows he's being a jerk, but he finds a way to send her on a few stupid missions outside of HQ, just to make it easy on himself. After all, this is his natural right as the team leader, and he deserves some slacks with his current injuries.

With Danny's shouting, and the near miss with Lori, he is still in a fragile state of mind when Kono steps in to HQ. Kono. The only piece of sanity around him. Her presence there now, makes him count his blessings for having her on his team in the first place. Kono is the only one who makes it all seems normal again, and under control. Kono, who comes bouncing lightly into HQ, looking happy and energetic as ever, and shines her beautiful dimpled smile towards him...

"You're losing it boss" she tells him, crossing her arms and scanning his battered body slowly "it took you, what? a _whole_ day since your little trip to North Korea and until you marched back in here? way too long for a ninja SEAL like you. You must be getting old..."

"I only thought of you guys" he answers, smiling back in relief "you all came there looking for me, I was worried you couldn't handle things on your own."

"Nah, Brah" she says dismissively "we all had too many vacations days, probably because of your famous oppressive regime around here, we just wanted to go somewhere nice."

"Nice?" he grins widely "it was a fucking Jungle."

"Well..." she shrugs, eyeing him happily "you know how Danny hates the beach..."

"Will you two stop flirting?" Danny looks impatiently at their joyous exchange of words "can't you see he has a post traumatic brain injury? don't encourage him."

"What are you talking about?" she looks doubtingly at Danny "he looks exactly like his normal self."

"Exactly my point" Danny shakes his head in annoyance "like his _normal_ state of post traumatic brain injury. It's not a joke, it tends to get worse when he's wounded. Let's go Iron man" he pulls Steve by his arm, "we actually have a new case."

()()()

It happens sometime after he's back from North Korea. Maybe he was tortured there worse than she thinks, and this is what explains his temporary state of insanity, but she has the sneak suspicion that it's not entirely the case.

Because, it actually happens before Chin's wedding. _The very night_ before Chin's wedding if you want to be more specific about it, which she doesn't, because she really wants to forget all about it and keep it away from her mind. No need to dwell on it, if you ask her. No need at all.

()()()

She wants to be Chin's best man at the wedding, and she really thinks she has a good case for it, too. She means, she is definitely the best candidate after all. She was the one to have his back for so many years and to stick by him, _and _she's family, _and_ Malia likes her, now, when they're on speaking terms again... So yeah, definitely, the job should be hers, if you only ignore the tiny little detail that she is, in fact, not exactly a man. Apparently, her otherwise loving and open minded cousin is unable to ignore that fact, _and_ offers the job to fucking Steve instead. Which she has to admit, has some positive qualities going for him, but still... What the hell? He is still a little, and she's being kind here, _damaged_ from his nice little vacation in North Korea, so this is the only reason she doesn't challenge him into a duel for the title, even though she's so fucking mad, she thinks she would have actually won.

After taking away her natural place at Chin's side, they do another shitty thing, and try to keep her away from his bachelor's party. They tell her that this is a guys' thing, and she should go and have fun at Malia's party. They know fucking well, she will never survive a whole evening of girl's talks, about love and babies, while being surrounded by pink ornaments and tacky overly commercial and unnecessary presents, even if they _will_ have cupcakes, which they will, and it actually makes her consider it for a millisecond or so. Luckilly, Malia knows it. Probably, because she is reluctant to do it herself, and is being aggressively pushed into it by her mother and practically all of Chin's and Kono's aunts. When they all discuss it again, for the hundredth time, and someone suggests Kono will practically _organaize_ the stupid party, it makes Malia to practically explode with laughter. Fortunately, Malia's support and her understanding of Kono's limited ability to sustain such an experience, is calming enough to prevents her from actually shoot someone.

Eventually, Chin probably sees his cousin's point, or much more likely, gets a specific instruction from his bride to be, because he invites her to his bachelor's party the next day.

()()()

"Ok, you can come" Danny says, looking exasperatingly at Kono "but I want to make it clear for the protocol, that I'm worried you would totally ruin my vibe there."

"What vibe?" she asks curiously. She had known Danny for a year and a half now, and for the life of her, couldn't detect anything that might be counted as a _vibe_.

"My vibe, my groove..." No. Nothing. He'll have to try to be more specific.

"He thinks you'll ruin his moves with the ladies..." Chin explains helpfully. Well, not as helpfully as he might think, she can't recall any moves either.

"I'll try to stay away from you" she says, trying to reassure him "if you want I can tell everyone I'm your sister." He looks at her doubtfully. "Maybe your _adopted_ sister...?"

"I didn't realize the purpose of the party was to get you a date" Steve says from behind them, joining the conversation.

"It's not" both Chin and Kono answers in unison.

"Good" Steve says decisively "but if you really need a date, maybe I can hook you up with Max. I'm sure he'll like it."

"Do that, and I'll let Lori know you want to take her with you" Danny says it without blinking. The sheer panic that forms on Steve's face makes the three of them glow with happiness. They all think he needs to pay for the fear and distress his disappearance with Jenna had caused them. It's not even come close to the full price yet, but it's a promising start.

"What are you all talking about?" Lori steps in, and stands next to Steve. She always stands a little bit too close to him, and it's funny to see the way he unconsciously cringes when she does that.

"We're planning my bachelor's party" Chin says kindly to her, and it gets Kono worried she might try to push herself into it. You know, like the way she pushed herself into the team. _Her_ team. She should really talk to Chin about his overly exaggerated and ill directed politeness.

"Sounds fun" Lori smiles sweetly "I think Malia is planning a real nice gathering too, she asked me to bring chocolates and some other stuff. What are you bringing Kono?"

Malia is probably the kindest, smartest, most beautiful creature in the entire world. Her overwhelming generosity in forcing Chin to take her with him and her willing to sacrifice herself by inviting Lori to her own party, is the best present she could offer Kono, after stealing her beloved cousin. If Chin wouldn't have married her, she would have done it herself.

()()()

They go to a really nice bar in Chinatown, and sit in the corner of the bar, ordering several rounds of beers .

Danny makes a big fuss about forcing Steve to pay for the first round, to prove he has his wallet, and surprisingly, he does. They tease Chin for getting married and Danny takes the time to explain what a crucial mistake he is making, and how he should start collecting money for the divorce. She knows Chin is practically a saint, but the fact that he keeps laughing at Danny's rants and lets him keep talking, is a new level even for him.

()()()

Steve and her spend most of the time arguing about their last case. She calls it arguing, but it might be a tad more volatile than that. They have a very simple difference of opinions where she feels he used the wrong tactic storming the warehouse where the gun dealers were hiding, and acted foolishly all together, and he thinks that he didn't. Obviously, he is wrong.

She tries to make her point by showing him the correct approach, because she really tries to be helpful here, and she uses their beer bottles and most of the peanuts in the bowl they share, to prove her point. At the same time, he keeps moving the really nice formation she presents there, while he tries to make his own case. It all starts to deteriorate and become more and more heated, and really fast.

When she thinks back about what happens next, she blames it partly on of the high alcohol consumption, at least on _her_ part, the control freak beside her only drinks a couple of beers, and partly on the fact that the blond bartender keeps hanging around their corner, sending smoldering looks towards Steve, and flashes him with her cleavage, every time she leans over.

She doesn't really know what possesses her, but the next time the cheap harlot comes their way, smiling flirtatiously towards him, and makiing him smile back, diverting his attention from the very important discussion they are having, she stands up in her seat, reaches to her little apron, which probably serves only to highlight her curves, pulls her closer, and tells her to stay the fuck away from him.

There's a sudden quiet around their corner when both Chin and Danny are looking at her with surprise, and Steve has an unreadable concentrated expression on his face as he watches her strong arm forces the blond girl on the counter, while the other lays protectively across his chest.

"You can let her go now" Chin says quietly, after nobody moves for a few seconds, and she realizes she still looks at the slutty girl with pure murder in her eyes. She _does_ let her go, and tries to regain her composure with as much dignity as possible, but the damage is already done.

When Danny tries to salvage the situation, ranting animatedly about how he can't take Steve anywhere anymore because, every woman in a one mile radius is eye-humping him, and it makes him feel cheap, she can't bare it anymore, excuses herself and disappears to the bathroom.

()()()

He is still banged up, possibly brain damaged from his near death experience, and she is partially drunk, and already riled up with their recent argument and her collision with Miss. cleavage over there, so when he chases her across the poorly lit bar, and grabs her hand she initially shakes it away from him, as she tries to avoid further escalation. He is too strong though, and the fact that she's trying to fight him off, only causes him to react in a more demanding way, and he finds himself pushing her against the wall, effectively pinning her againsg it with his body.

"What are you doing?" he asks her with an air of intensity in his low voice, his eyes boring into hers, making her stumble on her words at first.

"N-Nothing..." she tries to push him away from her without success. "Leave me alone" she tries again, and with a strong and well directed kick to his shin, catches him off guard and makes him move away. "Let it go Steve..." she says again behind her back as she makes her way towards the door.

He takes a deep breath, when she gets away from him, and he thinks he should go back to the bar, to Chin and Danny, but when he looks towards her retreating back, he catches her sending a quick look towards him, just before the door slams behind her. She doesn't smile, or makes any movement to indicate that she wants him to follow her, so he tries to convince himself that he's only doing it because she's drunk and he is concerned about her safety, but he knows it's not true the minute he runs, yes _fucking runs_ towards her. He finds her walking towards the parking lot, and pushes her the thirty feet which separate them from his truck. He is crashing her forcefully against the side of the vehicle, and they are back to where they were less than a minute ago.

Yeah, he's really starting to piss her off with the way he touches her, and forces himself on her. Maybe she's more drunk than she thought, because she took pity on him, in the bar just now. She should have directed the kick a little higher and to the middle, and cause some real pain. She is about to do exactly that, when she looks up into his deep blue eyes, and feels like her sobriety comes back at an instant. She concentrates on his slightly opened mouth, and her breaths becomes faster and more labored. When she suddnely feels his body relaxes, she suspects that he finally got his senses back too. She's right, because he's about to let her go, but he's _so_ close, that her judgement is all gone again, so when he starts to pull away, she really has only one option. _One_, so she acts fast, before the opportunity escapes.

She makes a swift movement, and grabs his polo shirt's collar, pulling him towards her and crashing her lips onto his. As she swings them around, to pin _him _against the car, while her hands still holding his shirt tightly, she feels his initial surprise changes into a frenzied attack of his own. There is a low feral growl that he makes when she moves her leg between his, and his arms take a hold of her waist. There's an electric storm around them, and they both know, there is effectively no way back anymore.

So this is when it happens. This is when they sleep together.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Thank you all for your kind reviews. My thanks to all of you who read, favored and follows this fic.

There is a specific idea that I'm building here. I Promise.

Thank you all.

* * *

"Keys" she whispers between one urgent kiss to the other, she is still holding him tight, and he's pushing his hands under her shirt.

"What?"

She pushes his hands off of her, disentangles herself from his tight embrace, and positions her hand on his chest, keeping him at bay. With her other hand she pads quickly on his jeans, trying to find the keys to his truck. It doesn't exactly have the restraining effect she was going for, probably due to the specific location of his jeans' pockets, because he pushes her arm and holds it behind her back, as he pulls her towards him again, regaining his assault on her mouth. At least it gets him to understand what she's looking for, and he manages to find his keys, which were buried in one of his back pockets, and to click open the car. He lifts her in the air, still kissing her, and moves them so they could get into the vehicle.

He lays her on the back seat, and she can see, that at least he has the decency to look around them, to make sure they're alone. Honestly? she is really beyond caring at this point, and she is otherwise occupied in pulling him forcefully on top of her. She ignores the sharp hiss that he makes when he knocks his head on the ceiling of the car, while her leg is digging into his left flank. If you ask her, considering the location of her hands at the moment, he doesn't have anything to complain about. Her hands go straight to his belt and he looks down, at her actions as she opens his belt buckle and unbutton his jeans. He holds himself above her when she does the same to her own jeans, and lifts her pelvis up to get herself free from them in the small compartment. As soon as she's done, she reaches her hand to his neck, and he meets her half way, his hand is lifting her slender body towards him. They move together, with his forehead buried in the crook of her neck, her arms clinging to his broad shoulders and her legs wrapped around his torso. The stifling air in the car is filled with their moans, and she can feel the car moves with every stroke.

()()()

He feels like a rock star. Lying there on top of her, after they have sex _with their close on,_ _in his fucking car_. It's actually better than feeling like an adolescent, which is the other similarity that comes to his mind. He thinks about asking her what she thinks about it, but he suddenly remembers that her adolescence days are much more recent than his. It's somewhat disturbing, actually.

"Get up" she groans, after a few minutes when they still lie like that, trying to regain their normal breaths.

"What?"

"You're suffocating me" she moans.

"Oh, sorry" he moves himself from on top of her, and sits back in the car seat, fastening his jeans as fast as he can. She does the same, on the other side, but he sees her looking at him thoughtfully as she does. His eyes scanning her flashed face, and her still rapid breathing, and It takes all his will power and years of discipline, not to pull her back for a second round.

"My home is closer" she says suddenly.

"It is?" he'll take her word for it, as he seems to have lost any spatial awareness he once possessed.

"It's about ten minutes from here" she says again, trying to make a certain point. Actually, it sounds more like a challenge, come to think about it.

"I can make it in seven." Bingo!

()()()

He makes it in just under six minutes, even after successfully fighting the urge to use the fucking siren. He had a lot of training, you see, sitting there, next to Danny, driving while subjected to his constant rants and infuriating remarks, so maybe this is why he is able to get them there in one piece, even though she keeps moving her hand in between his thighs, and keeps attacking his throat with her mouth.

When they get to her home, he practically carries her from the truck to the front door. She was always a very resourceful girl, and she proves it again when she has the sense to have the keys ready when they reach the house. He has to admit though, it's not as necessary as she might think, because as he sees it, he would have broken the door with a single kick, at this point.

()()()

They don't get much further than the door, collapsing on the living room floor in a tangle of limbs. They are still kissing lustfully, helping each other to discard of their clothes when he raises his head for a second and sees a picture of Chin and Kono, standing smiling at the beach.

"Jeez..." he looks mortified at the smiling face of her cousin, and his hand which slides down her exposed abdomen tightens on her flat muscles.

"What?" she asks, groaning in frustration when she notices his sudden lack of attention. When she follows his gaze, she sees what's bothering him, and she momentarily shares his sense of self consciousness, stopping her actions too. When she draws her eyes back to his beautiful face, and focuses on his kiss bruised lips, she gets her priorities right back.

She finds his shoe somewhere on the floor, and throws it expertly towards the shelf, knocking the picture down and out of sight.

"Better?" she asks as he looks at her, puzzled "can we go back to where we left off, now?" he just stares at her thoughtfully, and she is suddenly worried that he's going to change his mind, and bail out on her, and she wonders if her too blatant approach will turn him off or something. But he sends her a joyful smile, that makes her blush like a schoolgirl, and he resumes the movements of his wondering hands, and when his hand continues with the exploration, sliding downwards and reaches its original destination, all concerns, as well as any other coherent thought escapes her mind completely.

()()()

"Kalakaua..."

"Kono? are you still in bed?"

"Hi mom..." she mumbles into the phone, still half asleep.

"_Why are you still in bed?_" she cringes to the sound of her mother's shrieking voice on the other side of the line. This is way too loud for this time of the morning.

"What time is it?" she mumbles again, trying to raise her head and look around her.

"It's already nine o'clock. You should be up already."

"Should I?" She tries unsuccessfully to disentangle herself from under Steve's body, and to wrap her head around what looks like a crucial piece of information she's missing there.

"What are all the noises you're making?" her mother sounds concerned "what are you doing?" she looks at the messed up living room, the crumpled rug, Steve's naked body on top of her, and their half torn clothes scattered on the floor, and feels somewhat indecisive on how to answer the question.

"What do you want mom?" she changes the subject, in a desperate attempt to advance the conversation. She feels Steve's body stirs on top of her, when she continues to push against him.

"Today is Chin ho's wedding, you do remember that, right?" Fuck!

"Oh shit! We'll be right there, mom" she says quickly, before she hangs up.

"Wake up!" she pushes him urgently "we're late!"

"What?"

"It's nine o'clock" she says "we're late for the wedding."

"Oh shit!" he is finally awake, standing above her and looking around him in confusion. She sits up, and grabs his tee shirt to cover herself, as he starts to collect his other clothes which are scattered around in different stages of destruction. "Ahhh, Kono, that's my shirt..." he tells her when he sees her holding it against her bare chest, while he tries to quickly pull up his Jeans.

"I'm confiscating it" she notifies him, trying to avoid looking at his naked body. If he thinks she's going to sit there naked in front of him, especially when she's sober and rational again, he's fucking delirious. There's a tense silence when he finishes putting on his Jeans and his shoes, and starts looking for his keys, while she still sits there, her hair is sticking every which way, waiting for him to leave.

"Should we talk about...?" he starts, but he has no idea what he's actually asking.

"You should go, it's late" she says quickly "we still need to get dressed, and you're the best man, so you need to be there for the whole ceremony."

"Yeah..." he nods "I'll see you there, then" he spits, already on his way out of the house. When the door closes behind him he releases all the air he was holding. On the other side of the door, she does the same.

()()()

The wedding starts at four. Apparently this doesn't prevent them from dragging her to a long series of receptions, traditional ceremonies and formal blessings, hours and hours before the actual event. She arrives to her aunt's house an hour and a half late, earning curious looks from her way too many relatives and a nerve wrecking, knee shaking, scrutinizing one from her mother. She really wishes she could tell them, that considering the fact she is sleep deprived, hung-over and her body still aches from sleeping, and also _not sleeping_ on the floor, she should really be congratulated for being able to walk in a straight line, without flipping over, in front of her entire family.

"What happened last night?" Malia whispers into her ear when they hug at the entrance "Chin said you and Steve got MIA in the middle of the night. Did you two have a fight or something?"

She looks thoughtfully at her soon to be new cousin, and tries to remember if there was anything which could resemble a fight in the happenings of last night. Apart from a small conflict regarding the position of her left leg, in one occasion, there weren't any real issues. This minor conflict was solved quickly when she flipped them over, effectively capturing his body under her, and making him concentrate on other things. It's a real shame for such an experienced undercover operative, but she can't help the blush that creeps into her cheeks when she has this flashback.

"You've slept with him!" Malia looks with shock at her cousin's reddening face, and has to cover her mouth quickly, because she's saying it a little bit too loud. She didn't. Not really. They didn't really sleep much. Not more than three hours or so. Steve's perseverance and blind dedication to the cause, proved to be a real advantage in their enthusiastic and thorough love making. She is so impressed with his determined endurance, that she is actually thinking about sending a thank you note to his CO. She really thinks she should commend him for the high level training he was able to give to this unquestionably very difficult, stubborn, pain in the neck, Navy SEAL. As Joe will actually be at the wedding later, she might even have the opportunity to do it face to face...

()()()

He hasn't even got time to shave. He really needs to find his suite and hurry to Chin's place. Waking up, with her in his arms, buried in her warm body, is a new experience for him. He doesn't do this cradling stuff, normally. He always needs his own space on the bed, and the ability to get out of it quickly if needed. On the other hand, he doesn't really do this frenzied, feral, uninhibited sex with subordinates stuff either. He doesn't know what came over him. He tries to find some legitimate reasons, but sadly, he wasn't even drunk.

On his way to Chin's house, he prays silently that the special occasion will somehow prevent Danny from tormenting him about disappearing last night. Yeah... it would have required a much higher power than god, apparently...

()()()

"Why do we all have to be barefoot?"

"Because it's a symbol. We are trying to connect with nature."

"Nature? I don't want to connect with nature. Why would I want to connect with nature?"

"A wedding is a ceremony in front of the earth, the sea, the air and the fire... You know, nature."

"You got it all wrong" Danny shakes his head vigorously "A wedding is a ceremony where you sit with people you don't know, or can't stand, eat crappy food and have free drinks. Nature has nothing to do with it."

"Honestly, if you'd shut up now, I'll get you some free drinks. I promise."

"Fine..." they spend some time looking at the arriving guests. "Tell me again, why the hell do we have to wear these bushes around our necks?"

"They're not bushes they're leis. Would you please shut up? look around you, it's nice. Try to enjoy the ceremony."

"I'm trying, I'm trying. But it's really hard with all the sand between my toes, and the smelly flowers, and Kamekona practicing his trumpet over there."

"It's not a trumpet, it's a conch shell, it's called a pu."

"Does he have to use this _conch shell_ to dig a hole in my brain?"

"Apparently he doesn't. You manage to dig a hole in my brain just by moving your lips."

"That's hilarious, Steve. I'm shocked you have the time for jokes in a moment like this, I thought you were too busy connecting with nature..."

"You're right. I am. Is there anything else, or can we stop with the questions now?"

"Hmmm... only one more, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead" Steve sighs, and gestures to him to continue with an air of generosity.

"Did you actually take Kono home with you last night, or did you just had a quick one in the backseat of your car?" Yeah he should have definitely seen that one coming...

()()()

"It was a beautiful ceremony" Lori says to Chin and Malia when they all stand together, looking at the sunset. It's weird, even when she says something nice like that she looks all serious, and makes everyone around her feel nervous. The girl is a neurotic freak.

"Yes" Danny says "I really liked all this... nature stuff... very nice. Especially the trumpet..."

It's a good thing Chin knows Danny, and laughs all heartedly. "Sorry about the shoes, brah" he tells him smiling brightly, "I knew it would be too much for you, especially when I told you that you can't wear a tie. Why didn't you just put them back on?"

"I wanted to" Danny cries animatedly "believe me. Unfortunately I was under an explicit order to unify with the universe."

Even though Steve is not there to defend himself, they all know that there's more than some truth in this declaration.

"You look so beautiful" Malia says to Kono, smiling brightly as she holds Chin's arm "this dress really suits you."

"Thanks" Kono says, blushing a little. It happens to her a lot today, for some reason, and she thinks Malia notices.

She looks at her cousin and his new wife, standing close to one another, looking so happy and content. Their love seems so simple and strong, and she realizes for the first time, that her beloved and admired cousin, the one who'd been with her through everything, and the one with whom she stood for so long without any misgiving, no longer has her for a best friend. He has Malia now, instead. Don't get her wrong, she knows Malia is perfect for him, and makes him happy, and she always knew he was head over heels in love with her, and she's happy for him, she really is. But it makes her feel a little bit lonely all of a sudden.

She searches with her eyes around the coast line, and between all the guests and the running kids, and she spots him standing far from the crowd with Joe. He looks serious, she can tell just by looking at the way his shoulders square tightly, and the way he shakes his head. She always knows how to read him. Can anticipate every movement, every idea. Hell, even Danny keeps ranting about the way they complete each other's sentences all the time. They like the same football team, they like the same guns and TV and movie shows. They are both practicly addicted to the ocean, and he really really_ gets_ her. Like no one else. _Not even Chin_. She really feels close to him, and safe around him, and... and happy... She thinks about last night's events and wonders if it'd just cost her another friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Thank you all for your kind reviews. My thanks to all of you who read, favored and follows this fic.

Some of the events in this fic will be based on segments from the show, but not necessarily in the right order. Keeping it in the right order would have forced me to re-watch too many episodes featuring Lori. It was painful enough on the first time around.

So, basically, I do not own Hawaii five 0, anything that's looks familiar belongs to the creators. Just trying to have some fun...

Hope you'll like it.

**A/N2**:

Lydia: good call about Kono's slip! and thanks for leaving me a review, despite being tired. You always make me so happy, and you're comments are very helpful.

TvFanatic97: training is everything... thanks for following. You always pick the little things I put in there, a perfect reader. Really really happy to know you like it. Your reviews always give me a good perspective, much appreciated.

Shani8: yeah, they definitely know. Thanks for your sweet and funny reviews.

christinaxa: slightly crazy and totally obnoxious. Thanks for reading. Your comments were very helpful for me. You're so sweet.

Sidalee: same problem here (guys can be a pain). Kono definitely should have been his best man. I watched the line up of the wedding on the show, at least they put her on Chin's side with her friends. Thanks for reading, and commenting. I'm humbled.

Tiana P: thanks for everything, so sweet of you. You're a great motivator. Hope you'll like the rest.

Memii: glad to see a new face. Thanks for your kind words.

Fraancis2: thanks for your support. Thanks for being such a thorough reader :)

Bushy4: thanks for reading and commenting. It means a lot. You're always so fast too.

* * *

"So, what happened?"

"Nothing happened. It's all good. We came to... an understanding..."

"Really? good. So you'll stop walking around looking at her with puppy dog's eyes all the time?"

"I'm not looking at her with a puppy dog's eyes!" Steve says indignantly.

"Don't worry, you look more like a baby Rottweiler... It doesn't take anything of your masculinity."

"Thanks" he grumbles.

"Anyway, I'm glad you've talked and worked things out."

"Mmmm..."

"Please, don't make me ask!" Danny looks exasperatingly at him.

"We don't really have to talk. We both understand each other perfectly."

"You mean, you communicate telepathically?" Danny looks questioningly at him "Somehow your amazing superpowers and ninja skills, allow you to transmit to her what you think, using only energy and brain waves? or maybe you two have such a unique subconscious connection, she knows exactly what you want her to do, by sheer instinct?"

"Something like that..." he smiles to himself "it certainly worked before..."

"Stop!" Danny puts his hands over his ears. "I really don't want to hear about your sex life. I'm not sure I can survive it."

"Of course I'm not going to talk to you about our sex life. Which by the way, we don't really have." Steve says angrily "anyway, _You're_ the one who wants to talk about _everything_ all the time..."

"Some things are better left for the imagination" Danny shakes his head.

"Are you telling me that you're imagining Kono and I having sex?" Steve looks at him in disgust.

"No!" Danny exclaims. There's a silence in the car when Danny is just sitting there, trying to erase the currently much too vivid images his partner forced into his brain, and Steve keeps looking at him with suspicion.

"So, now what?" Danny says, after a while, clearing his throat, and trying to sound all casual about it.

"Now?" Steve looks thoughtfully on the road in front of him "now, back to square one. We're friends. We're working together. I asked her if she wants to try to be together, but she said no. She wants to be regarded for her own merits and not for sleeping with her boss, which I get. Judging by the way we work together without any problems, I think it's the right thing to do, anyway." He looks at Danny with his big blue eyes and with an unreadable expression.

"So, you're going to pretend as though nothing had happened?"

"Yes." Steve shrugs nonchalantly "and looking back at the last three weeks, it looks like it's working..."

"Sure looks like it" Danny nods in agreement "and you're sure that you're fine with it?"

"Of course" Steve looks at him curiously "why wouldn't I be?"

"Well... you know why, because of _that_ thing, obviously..."

"What _thing_?"

"The fact that you're completely in love with her..."

"Oh yeah..." Steve frowns at the long road ahead of them "_That_ thing..."

()()()

They have quite a hectic work load in the first five weeks after their hook up, and they can handle work pretty well during this time. Never better actually. It's easier than he had expected, and he can't help but feel a little bit disappointed at that. Their night together was so hot and overwhelming, with the both of them consumed with lust and need, somehow going back to their easy going relationship, is almost an insult to what happened there. But they do. Go back to square one, that is. Without any problems. They must be better friends than he thought they were.

Only he tends to keep her closer to him during armed assaults, or in other potentially dangerous situations, and he assigns her to the computer, and to the more complicated background intelligence gathering, just a little bit more frequently than he used to, before. It's not only because she's the best one for it, and he knows it. He can only hope she doesn't notice it. Actually, he's quite sure she doesn't, she would have bite his head off by now, if she did.

When they finally have some well deserved down time, it's the first time he has to calmly reassess their situation. It takes him one more week to start climbing the walls with the need for excitement, and he feels the safe distance he created between them beginning to crack, so after a few more days he gives up, and decides that if she wanted normal, than normal it is. He tries to initiate an opportunity for them to spend some time together. You know, alone. Doing fun stuff. Together. Like they used to do, before. Unfortunately, it doesn't go exactly as he plans.

"Hey Kono" he takes his chances one Friday afternoon when he sees her working with Danny and Lori on some files from their last case.

"What's up boss?" he swears, she's calling him boss on purpose, just to play with his nerves.

"Want to go climbing the Haiku stairs tomorrow?"

"I can't" she says, and to her credit she looks genuinely disappointed when she does "I'm teaching Danny and Grace how to surf, tomorrow."

"Oh..." he says, a little more discouraged than he guessed he would be "Well, maybe I can come with you..."'

"No" Danny says quickly "you should go climb your stairs. You were talking about it for ages. I almost thought about going with you myself, just to get you to shut up about it."

"Yeah, but..."

"Why don't you take Lori?" Danny says suddenly. He simply can't let this opportunity to mess with him go by. Steve was the one to bring her to the team in the first place, and he still owes them for his reckless behavior in North Korea, so they all feel obligated to remind it to him. Constantly. Even saint Chin...

"Excellent idea" Kono says when Danny nudges her with his elbow, smiling sweetly at him "I'm sure she'd love to."

The absolute panic that spreads on Steve's face at Danny's suggestion, transforms into a hot blind fury when she says it, and she almost feels sorry for him, and tries to think of a way to let him off the hook. But when Lori jumps on the opportunity, and says she will be delighted, it's already too late to take it back. To Steve's credit, he really tries to be civil when he makes an effort to dissuade her from the idea. Unfortunately, she's not even deterred by the prospects of being picked up at five AM, even though all three of them know it's just a desperate attempt on his part to scare her off. She sees Steve's jaw clenches in suppressed anger, when he gives up and they make their arrangements for the next day. By the time the both of them leave to go to Steve's office, in order for Steve to show her what stairs he's actually talking about, and what she's getting herself into, Danny is the first to explode with laughter.

Apparently Steve doesn't think it's funny, because two minutes later, he is back at the smart table, slamming his hands on the frame in anger.

"You two are on desk duty for the next month!" he spits pointing his finger threateningly at the both of them "actually Danny, you're on it for two!"

"You have no sense of humor, Steve" Danny shouts after him, when he goes back to his office.

"This team lacks discipline and respect for authority" he calls behind his back "We'll work on it. Don't you worry."

()()()

"Did you finally try to kill her?" Danny asks curiously when he sees Lori's damaged foot, the next day.

"No" Steve looks at him thoughtfully "she'd managed to do it to herself before I had the chance."

()()()

She is less offended by being put on desk duty, than she would have expected. Maybe it's because she is still a little regretful about putting him in this position with Lori in the first place. She isn't actually. The girl is a pain in the neck, and the sooner he'll gets it, and think about a way to get rid of her, the better. Maybe it's because working with Danny is quite hilarious and they really have a great time together talking and laughing and arguing about everything. Maybe it's because he brings Grace to the office quite often, and she spends time explaining to her how the smart table works, and how to move things around it. She swears, you couldn't tell she was Danny's kid by the way she manages to work it on the first go, and by the way she manages to connect her cell phone to it, without any instructions. When she mentions this to Danny, he is so smug about it, keeps telling everyone how brilliant and precious his girl is, it's lucky the child is as sweet as Grace is, because it would really get on her nerves otherwise.

Danny seems to like being with her too. Telling her constantly how grateful he is to have someone sane to eat lunch with. She is more than happy to participate in his fatty junk food's fests, and she introduces him to the charms of homemade Loco Moco she brings from her mother. When they raid a Coco Puffs bakery downtown together, and leave traces of sticky frosting all over the smart table, it makes Steve look at them in pure contempt and initiates the beginning of a very long and detailed explanation about their unhealthy diet, their inability to keep their surroundings clean and tidy, and their increased risk of early mortality. When Danny asks if he's talking about a health related mortality or is it simply a sophisticated way for him to threaten to kill them if they make additional mess, it looks like he's really struggling to find the right answer...

Steve's little speech seems to be working though. She doesn't have the same kind of appetite afterwards. She's practically off of food for the following week. She lets Danny finish the leftovers she has in her plate, which he is thrilled to do. The happy days of their shared confinement to the office are not so happy anymore, and it's all Steve's fault.

()()()

She gets into HQ carrying a tray with four cups of coffee, and another cup in her hand. It's not easy to try to balance all the cups when she presses the elevator's buttons, and it makes her think that this is a perfect metaphor for Lori's presence in the team. She manages to disrupt more than just the equilibrium of _the coffee_ in the office. When she steps in, she takes a look at Steve's office and sees him sitting in his chair with Lori positioned on the desk in front of him. He's making that familiar gesture of his, when he feels anxious and uncertain, the one when his right hand is holding at his left shoulder. At least, it's familiar to her. Lori, who's supposed to be a profiler, and to be attuned to non verbal communication, seems totally oblivious to it. She stands in the door way, next to the half opened door. It's not that she's eavesdropping or anything, she really just wants to bring them their coffees, but she is rooted to her place when she hears what he's saying.

"Look Lori. It's nothing personal" he says in a slightly too hurried manner "You're really... hmmm... yeah... It's just that I don't go out with people I work with. Especially when they are my subordinates."

To say that he looks mortified when he suddenly sees her standing there, and as he follows her with his eyes while she enters the room and silently puts their coffees on the desk between them, is the understatement of the year. She really tries not to laugh at the way he leans across his desk and buries his head in his hands. She wouldn't want to spill all the coffee on the floor, you see, her hands are trembling a little as it is.

"We can be adults about it" she hears Lori muses when she steps out of the room "keep it professional, without interfering with the job."

"That's what I thought" he exclaims desperately from behind his hands "Apparently, I am not that strong... "

()()()

The long weeks of desk work get on her nerves eventually. She misses the action and misses seeing other people. The fact that they don't really have a very active case load, and that Steve has other issues concerning his quest for Wo Fat, making them work in slower pace than normal. She constantly finds herself falling asleep on her desk, on top of the massive amount of files she needs to process.

"Please let me go back on active duty" she tells him one day, when he steps into her office and finds her looking sadly at the ever growing pile of documents in front of her.

"I said a month!" he looks at her steadily, his arms crossed "you have one more week to go".

"I can't stand it anymore" she whines despite of herself "pleeeeeease..."

"I thought you liked hanging out with Danny" he says dryly. She is surprised by his harsh tone. Surely, he can't be... jealous?

"I'm all over Danny" she says decisively "one more word about how he hates pineapples, and you'll have a new murder case to work on."

"Believe me, I know what you're going through" he says, nodding his head in understanding.

"So...?" she looks hopefully at him.

"Fine" he sighs finally, shaking his head at his apparently nonexistent back bone "but this means I'll have to let Danny off the hook too."

"Not necessarily..." she smiles sheepishly at him, "he already knows I'm your favorite."

"That's has nothing to do with it" he can't help but smile back at her, for a second "if you're back with Chin, I need him back, so I won't have to ride with Lori. Yesterday she even asked me if she could drive..."

"Wow!" she looks at him with pretended shock "she's either very brave, or very stupid..."

"Precisely!" he says, nodding vigorously. He is dead serious when he says it.

()()()

She's having dinner with Chin and Malia. She have hardly seen the both of them since the wedding, two months ago. The happy couple spent the entire time avoiding their big family, bathing in domestic bliss. It was quite amusing to see Chin's anxiousness to get home every day, and to watch him looking constantly at his phone. She wonders if all newlyweds are that preoccupied with each other, as it all seems a bit too clingy, if you ask her. She feels quite proud to be the first one to be invited, finally, to their secluded haven.

"You're not eating" Malia scolds at her when they sit at the table and she sees Kono playing with her food.

"I guess I'm not hungry" she says, a bit surprised. She didn't eat anything today, if she remembers correctly "it's really good though. You're a great cook."

"Are you OK?" Malia asks her, scanning her head to toe with a concerned expression.

"Of course I'm OK" she tells her "a little tired perhaps"

"Right..." Malia says not convinced. It's kind of annoying when she turns into a doctor without warning.

When they finish dinner, and Chin goes to the kitchen to make the coffee, she goes to sit in the lanai with Malia, to talk and look at the stars.

"Kono, are you sure you're OK?" Malia asks again, with a gentle voice. "Chin is not here, you can tell me. Is everything OK at work?"

"You mean, is everything OK with Steve, don't you?" Kono smiles at Malia's gentleness.

"Yes" Malia smiles. "I'm worried about you. Are you unhappy?"

"What?" Kono looks at her amused "of course not. I told you, I'm tired. I don't know why, because I was sitting in the office in the last three weeks, and the most strenuous activity I was engaged in was practically picking up a pencil. But I have a great mood. Really, I promise."

"You look pale" Malia is relentless.

"I was sitting in the office for weeks. I told you."

"And you lost some weight."

"I wasn't hungry, lately. Probably too bored out of my mind..."

"Kono..."

"Yes?" there's a strange, guarded air to the way Malia says her name, and it makes her look at her with a questioning look. They both sit there, while Malia waits for her to understand something. Something she really really tries to avoid...

"How long has it been since...?" Malia asks quietly, but Kono only shakes her head violently, looking like a deer caught in the headlights when she looks at Malia's steady gaze.

She almost crashes into Chin and the three cups of coffee, when she runs out of their house. It's almost ten o'clock. She can try to get to the drugstore before eleven.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **My thanks to all of you who read, favored and follows this fic. Especially for everyone who took the time to leave me a review. Your words makes me happy and thrilled every time, and give me inspiration.

As you all know by now, I don't usually do cliff hangers. It's much too stressful for me...(even though I think it actually gives something to the plot, and to the way the story is read, so maybe I'll do it again sometime). So, even though I don't really do cliff hangers most of the time, I did it this time because I really wanted to wait with the "Kono telling Steve" scene.

Obviously, I will continue from the same point, we left off last time.

Again, in this fic I use more details from the show than in the others I wrote, if anything looks familiar, it's not mine.

Hope you'll like it. Please Please tell me what you think, it means a lot.

R.

* * *

She gets to the drugstore on time and goes straight to the isle where it says "family planning". She honestly doesn't know what freaks her out more, the word _family_ or the word _planning_. She looks around her carefully, searching for something more appropriate such as an isle called "family _unplanning_" or something similar, but unfortunately, there isn't one. There's a lot of pregnancy tests though. Not a lot of planning there after all, ha...?

She buys two kits of each of the different pregnancy tests she finds there, and proudly stands in front of the cashier with a total of eighteen kits, as well as with two gallons of coca cola. The cashier is a little middle-aged lady, that carries quite a remarkable resemblance to her mother, and wears those half moon glasses on her nose that makes her look like every school teacher Kono have ever had. The distinct expression of severe scolding she wears on her face makes the similarity even greater, and instinctively makes her feel guilty.

"Don't worry" she says reassuringly to the suspecting looking lady "it's all work related."

"Sure it is" the woman says to her, still looking at her pointedly behind her glasses "you know, you'll get the same result from the first test as you'll get from all the others."

"I know" she nods solemnly "_I'm_ not going to be the skeptical one here..."

"You're partner?"

"My boss..." she tells her truthfully, "I told you it was work related."

"Would you like to buy some vitamins while you're here?" the woman asks dryly, "to my experience, most of the girls buying these kits come back for them later anyway." That's really a great comfort. She secretly hopes it's the lady's ill attempt at humor, when she says it.

She takes her bag full of pregnancy tests and her caffeinated drinks and turns towards the door.

'Hey say, aren't you that Kalakaua girl?" the cashier calls after her, when she's already half way behind the door, Oh Shit! please please please ,make her know her father... "I know your mother, we swim together" of course they are. "Haven't talked to her in a while now. Say hi for me, would you?" she smiles and nods politely. They both know it wouldn't be necessary.

()()()

A half hour and one gallon of coca cola later she sits on her bathroom floor looking at a perfect score of eighteen positive pregnancy tests. She has pink crosses, double red lines, blue circles, a black smiley face and even a pretty neat electronic one which says "you are pregnant". She looks around her and searches for a normal kit among the bunch, a kit which will show a frowning face, an image of a wagging finger, or a neat electronic one which will say "what the hell were you thinking?". Secretly she looks for something appropriate to show Steve, a kit that will say something like "congratulations! you are having a baby seal". There isn't any. Apparently she's on her own with this one. She'll have to tell him herself, and fast. Because the good souls of the island have already started to spread the rumor by now, and if her mother will go to look for him, he'd better be prepared.

She momentarily thinks about going to his house right now, in the middle of the night, to tell him and get it over with, but she'd rather do it in a tactically safer place. Like his office, which has transparent walls, and some potential witnesses around, who carry guns.

()()()

"_You're what!?_" he almost drops the big box of listening devices he is holding, when he turns towards her in a much faster movement than she thought was humanly possible.

"You've heard me" she says calmly.

"Well... say it again, just to humor me" strangely, he doesn't look at all humoristic when he glares at her like that, in disbelief.

"I'm pregnant" she says again, slowly, trying not to flinch with the intensity in his gaze.

"_How!?_" he cries as he puts the box on his desk, and scratches his head in confusion.

"Look Steve" she says with some frustration, "I know you had a crappy childhood and all, but surely your parents managed to cover this topic..."

"Kono, that's not what I meant, and you know it" he says, annoyed by her unexpected composure. "I know how you make babies..."

"Obviously" she huffs.

"Are you sure it's mine?" he knows it's the most stupid thing he could say, the minute he says it, but her composure and leveled tone when she breaks her news, and his whole world shutters around him, make him act without thinking. The right hook she sends to his left eye, and the nose bleed he has from the impact made by her other fist, suggests that she _is_ quite sure. Anyway, she's out of the room right after that, so he has all the time in the world, to rethink it.

()()()

"Which one?" Danny asks shaking his head, when he finds him sitting on the couch in the break room, holding an ice pack against his battered face, and wearing a grim expression.

"Kono" he huffs, indicating to the young rookie who looks completely well balanced and calm at the other side of HQ.

"What did you do?" Danny asks, not even pretending to be surprised.

"Why do you automatically think it's my fault?" Steve cries in indignation.

"You're joking..."

"OK, fine. It's my fault, I said something stupid.

"Of course you did."

"I think I really fucked up, this time..."

"I don't think so" Danny says, sitting beside him and padding him on the back affectionately "you could have done a lot worse."

"You think?" Steve looks doubtfully at him "how do you reckon?".

"Well... I know her, and I know what she can actually do to you if she sets her mind to it. A shiner and a bleeding nose? she was practically gentle..." they look back at the young woman doing her work at the smart table. They both know that It's true.

()()()

They have a new case before he has time to go and talk to her. Maybe it's a good thing. He'll have enough time to think about it and to realize what he is going to do, while they work. They always seem to handle themselves better when they have work related challenges to face. Besides, it will probably be safer for him to have Chin and Danny around, just in case.

They are called to investigate an armed robbery that went bad. The robbers took off leaving a jewelry shop's owner dead, with hardly any jewels missing from his shop. The breaking was clean, and it all smells like an inside job.

He teams her up with Chin, to keep her happy and safe, and takes Danny with him. Lori tags along with them. Unfortunately.

()()()

"Are you OK?" Chin asks when they get to the car "Malia said you had some kind of a belly bug." Yes, Malia can be quite funny sometimes.

"I'm fine" she shakes her head towards him "it will go away eventually."

"Yes, probably a 24 hours thing."

"Oh, I think it might take longer than this..." she says truthfully.

()()()

She is scanning the murder scene with Chin. There are no signs of breaking, and the glass doors of the presentation tables are all intact. There are some boxes of rings, necklaces and earrings outside on the counter, and everything looks really tidy and unhurried.

"What makes us think it's a robbery?" she asks Chin as she scans the much too organized robbery scene.

"The alarm went off. The security team which responded to it found the jewels spread out like that, and obviously, we have this..." he points to the bleeding corpse lying on the floor beneath them. Unfortunately she has no time to observe it too carefully, the minute the smell of clotted blood hits her, she feels dizzy and has to run out to the street, vomiting her guts out.

"Are you OK?" Chin rushes after her, looking worried.

"I'm fine" she smiles towards him, hoping she doesn't look as bad as she feels.

"You look green."

"Thanks, brah. It's very kind of you" she tries to smile, and fails miserably.

"Wait here cuz" he says gently "I'll get you some water. Why don't you sit this one out? I'll finish in there. Sit outside, and... I don't know... breathe."

She only nods quietly towards him, before settling on the sidewalk breathing slowly, and drinking her cold water. When she sees Steve, Danny and Lori come, and join Chin inside the jewelry shop, she wants to burry herself in the ground. She watches Chin saying something to their team leader, and indicating towards her, and she sees him looking at her with a guarded expression, clenching his jaws again. He doesn't come to talk to her, or to kick her the hell back to HQ, which she is sure is his first instinct. She secretly thinks he's simply too afraid to try.

"Danny and Lori, you are going with Max to examine the victim" he says when she comes in, right after the body is removed from the scene. "Chin, Kono you go talk to the widow. There's a partner somewhere apparently, I'm going to find him. I want to know exactly what's missing."

"Can you handle it?" he whispers, grabbing her arm when they all spread around for their respective assignments and she tries to pass by him on her way to the door.

"I'm fine" she grumbles, pulling her arm back, forcefully.

"Kono, if you..."

"I said I'm fine, Steve" she glares pointedly into his eyes, and sees his soft and worried expression transforms into a much harder, angrier one. She's half expecting him to scream at her, or worse, but he doesn't. He lets her go, eventually, but keeps looking at her with apparent unease when she pulls herself together, and breathes deeply before she walks away. "We'll talk later" she promises when she is already at the doorway. He nods back, silently. Honestly, she has no idea what else is left to say.

()()()

They spend almost two hours with the not so grieving widow. She doesn't cry, or even looks sad. She is quite comfortable in telling them in great details how a total waste of space her husband was, and how unhappy they were together, and how she considers herself lucky that they didn't have any children. She doesn't even pretend to feel guilty with her apparent satisfaction from his early demise. She exchanges meaningful looks with Chin, and she feels like reaching for her handcuffs and drag the woman's ass back to HQ, when disappointedly she comes up with a solid alibi to the time of the murder. Before they leave, the widow asks them when she can go to the shop to take some jewels she was setting her mind on. It's lucky Chin's hand holds her in her place before she manages to tell her precisely when and where she can stick her jewels.

()()()

"We are looking for a diamond ring shaped like a sailboat" Steve says when Kono and Chin join the rest of the team at the smart table. "It was a special order, made by a secret buyer. The diamond was brought especially, and the vic made the ring according to the client's description." He loads a picture he has on his cell phone of a drawing of the ring.

"I can't see anything similar to it" Kono says as she runs the pictures from the murder scene on the big screen. "The robbers must have taken it."

"I think we found our motive" Danny says, looking at the drawing again "now we only need to find who the client is."

()()()

They spend the rest of the day going over all the data they have, Danny and Lori cover the lab and coordinate the investigation with HPD, and Kono and Chin take their regular positions at the computer, handling the data analysis. He watches them from his office. Watches her. She looks pale, and tired, but she's on top of everything, efficient as always. No, actually she's not at all as always. She's more quiet, and more serious, and unlike her usual when she can't stand still, bouncing around all vibrant and energetic, she sits more, and keeps her movements on check. He can't help but looking at her slender body, and her flat belly, searching desperately for some sign that there's something there. _Someone_ there. His son, or his daughter. He feels his heart rate rising and his mouth dries up when it hits him suddenly. He runs to the bathroom, splashing his face with cold water, breathing deeply trying to calm down. He just stands there, in front of the mirror, watching his own reflection, seeing the damage she made to his face, and he can't help but smile at her sudden rage and her familiar inability to let him get away with being a total dick. Until he remembers again why she had to do it, and he feels dizzy again, and nauseated. He wonders if this morning sickness thing they all talk about can happen to the fathers too. Fathers. Him. A father. Fuck!

He feels like a stalker, following after her every move. Every sip of water she takes, every bite of food. Every time she disappears to the bathroom, and he fights the urge to run after her to make sure she's OK, and that the morning's episode is not reoccurring. He watches the calendar, counting the weeks and realize that if he'll continue to focus on her like this for the next seven months, the crime rates on the island will practically be rising. He opens the computer and googles some information about his expected fatherhood. He's quite amazed to realize that his child is in the size of a small peanut at this stage, and gets absorbed with the much too detailed information he gets there about the physiologic changes his child's mother is going through, at this precise moment, and instantly feels like he is in some kind of a horror movie. It's obvious she didn't read any of this, like Danny said, a shiner and a bleeding nose? considering what he had just inflicted on her, she would have made a permanent damage if she'd known...

()()()

He wants to talk to her quietly, after everyone leaves, but annoyingly, no one seems to be heading home in a reasonable hour. A bunch of way too dedicated, workaholics with no personal life, his team makes, and he guesses, that that must be his fault too. When he can't stand it anymore, and he sees her stepping to her office, to look for something on the computer, he takes the opportunity and makes his way purposefully towards her.

"I'm sorry" he says as he gets into her office and closes the door behind him.

"It's yours" she says quietly looking at him tiredly, hoping to eliminate any chance of another argument. She really don't want to fight anymore.

"I know. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking..."

"It's OK" she says reassuringly "I had the whole night to deal with it before I talked to you, I probably should have given you more time to absorb it."

They stand there quietly looking at each other, and she notices his eyes move to her flat belly and scanning her tired and pale complexion.

"It's still early, it doesn't really show yet" she tries to break the awkward silence.

"Are you OK?" he asks suddenly "I mean, do you feel OK? don't you feel errrrr... nauseated, or dizzy or something like that? I mean except for this morning...obviously..."

"Look Steve, if this is how you try to take me off of active duty again..." she puts her hands on her hips, ready to fight if necessary.

"It isn't" he says quickly, looking back at her eyes again "it isn't!" she can see he is being honest, and worried, and scared out of his wits.

"Look, I know you're upset..." she begins, trying to offer him a dignified way to back off.

"I'm _not_ upset" he looks at her, genuinely surprised at her suggestion. "Are _you_?"

"No..." she says, scratching her head with confusion. Amazingly so, she's not. Not for a single moment since she found out. She looks at him thoughtfully and sees his curious expression.

"So what are we going to do?" he asks after the long silence that ensues. She looks back at him with glinting eyes. The way he speaks about him being a part of the whole thing, and the way he naturally puts himself in this mess along side her, is probably the sweetest, most loveable, sexiest thing he had ever done. She would kiss him, now, transparent walls and everything, in front of everyone, and get her ways with him... only she feels it's a little inappropriate, considering that this is what got them into this mess in the first place.

"I have no idea" she shrugs.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **I want to thank everyone who read, follows, favored this fic. My special thanks for the people who took the time to leave me their kind words and their thoughts about it.

I am grateful for everyone, even if I wasn't able to answer each of you personally.

I am using characters from my previous fics, here. I hope it's OK. You don't necessarily have to read the previous ones in order to understand what's going on, this is not a sequel, and each of my fics stands alone, and the dynamics are completely different (except Kono and Steve are always together, obviously). However, saying this, still, the fear of Kono's mother will have a better context if you know her from "Crashing" or from "One for the team".

Hope you'll keep reading, and tell me what you think.

_The reader Rain: you said no Catherine... the feelings are mutual._

* * *

"What do you mean no?"

"What do you think I mean?"

"Why not?!"

"I'm not some kind of a charity case."

"Who said anything about a charity case?" he looks at her with growing irritation. "All I said is that having a kid is a great idea and..."

"It wasn't exactly an idea..." she reminds him "and it's not even a kid yet. It's more like... a peanut, at this point."

"It _was_ a great idea! and I really think it will be good for me to have a kid and a wife..."

"So I was right, you _do_ want to marry me, because of the peanut."

"We want to do it properly don't we?"

"You see? you _are_ treating me like some kind of a charity case. You wouldn't have asked, if I wasn't having the peanut in the first place."

"As you very well recall, I _did_ ask you to be with me. Right after we managed to... make... the... peanut. You said no!"

"Precisely. This is why I can't understand why you are so surprised when I'm saying no, now" she says triumphantly. He has a sneaking suspicion he is about to lose this battle, even though he can't actually say how...

"I'll suspend you!" he threatens. Maybe using one of the major weapons in his arsenal on her, will make her see sense.

"Then, I'll tell Danny." she has a better weapon, apparently "he'll keep talking about it until the peanut is old enough to go to basic training."

"I'll tell your mother!" he can use the weapons of mass destruction, too.

"You wouldn't!" she looks wildly at him with pure shock in her eyes.

"Just watch me, babe..."

He wouldn't, really. He is not that stupid. Or that brave. Or able to imagine a single scenario in which it will actually be beneficial for him...

()()()

He leaves her at Kmekona's after their heated discussion. He thought that taking her somewhere neutral, away from the other team members, will help them discuss things in a more privet and rational way. He thought they could talk about the baby, and about their plans for the future. He thought he could tell her at last, how he feels, and what he wants. He wants her, with him. He always did. Now he's practically desperate for it, but she refuses to get it for some reason, and the whole thing just blows in his face.

He spends the rest of the day, in his house stripping the walls in the spare bedroom. He tries to convince himself he's not doing it because he has some plans for this room, in the near future, but because it prevents him from screaming or breaking, or shooting something. When there's a knock on the door, he is all riled up, sweaty and his muscles are strained from the effort, so it's better not be her, because it wouldn't end well.

It isn't her. When he opens the door, there are five young Hawaiian men standing there, looking curiously at him.

"Hello..." he says, looking cautiously at the five guys.

"Hey, brah."

"Emmm... Can I help you guys with anything?"

"We're sorry brah. We had no choice..."

"I'm sad to hear it" he says honestly, even though he has no idea what they are sorry for, and who the fuck they're supposed to be.

"Do you want to get dressed or something?" Nohokai asks politely "we can wait, if you want."

"That's fine..." he says cautiously, wiping the sweat away from his face.

"We could take it outside if you want" Kapali says graciously "we don't want to mess up your house, or anything."

"You're Kono's brothers!" he cries happily, finally realizing who they are. They look at each other thoughtfully, obviously concerned by his way too slow comprehension of the situation.

"Please to meet you" Makaio says, extending his hand for a hand shake. Steve shakes it back, impressed by the strong grip.

"What do you mean, mess up my house?" he asks with suspicion, he still has no idea what they all want from him.

"Look, McGarrett" Kapali, the eldest, tries to bring everyone's attention back to the matter in hand. "There's no point in postponing this. We really hate to do it, so maybe we should just get it over with."

He looks carefully at the five guys. They are all tall and tanned. Their long limbs are muscular and he guesses they are all surfers, or engaged in some other kind of physical sport. They have kind faces, even though they all look serious and remorseful, and they look similar to one another, and similar to Kono too.

"You came to beat me up?" he asks, smiling. He wonders if Kono decided tell her family, after his recent threat to do so himself.

"Yes. We're sorry, brah" Makaio, who seems to be the most conscientious one, admits nodding solemnly. "It really wasn't our decision."

"You do realize I'm a Navy SEAL, and I can probably kick your asses in five minutes, right?"

"We know" Nohokai says in total agreement. Apparently they have no illusions.

"The way we see it" Kale says "you're pretty strong, and badass and all, but there's five of us, and only one of you, and we're not so bad ourselves, really. Even if you do win, we'll still manage to hit you pretty hard."

"Besides," Akela adds shrugging "I doubt that you'll do your best against us. I don't think you would want to actually hurt us."

"You think I'll be afraid to touch you, because you're Kono's brothers?" he hopes it wouldn't be the case, but he honestly can't say for sure.

"No" Makaio says, quite surprised at this suggestion "you'll be afraid to touch us because we're our mother's sons" Yeah. That's a solid point. No question.

()()()

They go to the back yard, and have a few rounds, and he can stand it pretty well, but he soon realizes that they _are_ not so bad at this, as he hoped. They have no experience, but they're strong, and they work well together. After thirteen minutes they all lie exhaustingly on the grass, and he has a few cracked ribs, and a broken lip to go with his shiner, and a relatively serious bruise at the side of his hip. He looks, not entirely unsatisfied, at the quite severely banged up young men beside him. Fortunately, it looks like all of them will survive.

There's a few minutes when they are all quiet, catching their breaths and looking at each other, until suddenly they start laughing and talking all in the same time, and he tries to follow after what they say, because they all seems to be somewhat crazy, when they start to compare their battle wounds and give each other, not so constructive, criticism about their fighting abilities. He has to join in, because it's funny, and it makes him feel good, and reminds him of his early days in the service when he was pretty crazy himself. Danny would say, those days are not as far gone as he might imagine, and it's the first time he thinks, that there must be something in what Danny says after all.

"We're going spear fishing next week" Akela says after they stop their bickering, as he spits some blood, and wipes his bruised mouth with his hand. "Want to come with?"

"Spear fishing?" he moves slowly, trying to ease the pain in his ribcage. "Sure, Why not?"

"Great" Kale says, hoping on one leg, as he tries to stand up "We'll pick you up at dawn, then. It's awesome, you'll like it."

"So, I guess we're cool, brah?" Nohokai says when they all go slowly towards their truck, and Steve follows them quietly.

"Sure. We're cool" he says, shaking his head and smiling in amazement. He really starts to like these guys.

"We'll tell mom you'll do the right thing, now. Right?"

"Look, Kono doesn't..."

"Mom says, Kono has nothing to do with this." Makaio informs him dryly.

"Fine" he nods in understanding "tell her I'll do my best, then."

()()()

"What the hell happened to you?" she looks at him wide eyed the next morning when he steps slowly into HQ, looking like he was hit by a train."

"Just had the pleasure of meeting your brothers" he tells her, grimacing when he tries to sit in his chair. "You could have warned me before telling her, you know."

"I didn't" she looks exasperatingly at him "she found out on her own. I really hope you didn't hurt them."

He looks from her, back to his battered and bruised body, obviously offended. "Don't worry" he says dryly "they are all perfectly fine."

"Good call" she tells him, shaking her head, "I wouldn't be able to protect you otherwise..."

()()()

They have some promising suspects for the murder and the robbery. The bullet from the dead body is identified, and is similar to a bullet that was recovered in a random shooting a few months ago. They identify the gang who used it, and have their location in no time. It takes them a few more hours of preparations to storm the gang's club in the outskirts of the city.

Steve is being extra careful, spreading the forces to close on the place. He admits, he has his doubts when he lets her wear her Kevlar vest and take her position like everyone else, but when he sees her focused gaze, and the way she carefully fasten the vest and stands behind him, like she always does, he forces himself to relax and concentrate on the task at hand.

They storm the place with hardly any shootings. They manage to capture half a dozen gang members and to put them in custody. When they prepare to take them all back to HQ for questioning, he has a momentary fright when he looks behind him, and she's nowhere to be seen. When he looks frantically around him, he sees her chasing one of the gang members who tries to get away. Before he has the time to react, and run after her, she manages to drop the guy to the ground when she kicks the back of his knee under him. She handcuffs the guy, and reads him his rights, and he sees her shaking her hair behind her shoulders, quite proud of herself, and most deservedly so. He is really turned on, at that moment, and he hopes it doesn't show.

()()()

She stands with Lori behind the one way window of the interrogation room, watching Steve and Danny working on the gang's leader. Steve is doing his regular spiel, walking arrogantly around the room, raising his voice, and using his threatening appearance as he forces him to talk, slowly but surely entanglling him with the evidences they have.

It all looks too familiar. Steve standing tall, with his arms crossed shouting at the suspect in the interrogation room. It hits her too close to home, reminds her of their previous experience there together, when she was the one sitting on the chair before him. She doesn't go inside this room anymore, if she can help it, and Steve seems to be handling himself under the same restrictions, never assigning her to this kind of interrogations if he can avoid it. Specifically, he makes sure not to make her go in there together with _him_. Sometimes she thinks he is even more self conscious about it than she is.

"He's really good" Lori says, pulling her from her musing.

"You think?" she looks questioningly at the other woman "I think he's about to crack any minute."

"I'm not talking about the suspect" Lori huffs "I'm talking about Steve."

"Oh..." she's not sure she likes where this conversation is heading to.

"You've known him for quite a while now, haven't you?"

"Yeeeeessss..." she says carefully, _definitely_ not liking where this is going to.

"Do you think he would ever... go out with me?" she looks at Steve with dreamy eyes "I tried to ask him out, twice, and he refused... but I really think, if I can make him think about it again..."

"Why would you want to go out with him?" Kono says sharply. She has no idea how she got herself into this stupid conversation.

"Why?" Lori looks incredulously at her "just look at him" she does. They both do.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" she says, unconvincingly. The fact that precisely when she says it, he just happens to slam his fist into the chair, and his muscles are showing under his much too tight tee shirt, is a pure misfortune, if you ask her.

"He's so beautiful, and kind. He's a perfect boyfriend material, really." Lori continues with her unwelcomed appraisal of their boss. "He'll be a perfect husband, and a perfect father one day, I can tell!"

"You can?" she looks doubtfully at her child's father, behind the glass.

"Of course" Lori says decisively "he is brave, and loyal , and he has very high protective tendencies, and a strong sense of commitment. What else would you want in a man?" she can't think of anything, even though she tries.

"You're idealizing him way too much" she tries to bring Lori back to reality. She's doing it for Lori's safety, really. There's no way the woman will get out of the cellar alive, if she'd continue with her obsession over him, she already finds herself searching discreetly for her gun. "He must have some flaws, like any other man" she says, trying really hard to think of any.

"Such as what?" Lori looks suspiciously at her.

"Mmmm... I don't know. Maybe he's really bad in the sack."

"I find it hard to believe" Lori says instantly. Yes. She's right. She knew it was overreaching the minute she said it.

()()()

They don't get the name of the man who hired the gang for the job. They get an anonymous number and a secret bank account they used to transfer the money to. Chin runs it against the data base, and comes up with the name of the bank and the number of a safety deposit box. It takes them a whole day and a lot of convincing, to get a warrant, but they get it eventually. They find the sailboat diamond ring inside the safety deposit box, together with a passport. It's the victim's wife passport. They have her under arrest by the end of the day. When they lead the furious and screaming woman towards the police car, she keeps cursing her husband and the miserable life she had with him, and keeps saying how glad she is for doing what she did, never regretting it for a moment. Her hate filled claims makes Kono flinch a little, and she feels the sweat trickling down her neck. When she takes a peek at Steve he looks somewhat shaken too.

()()()

They hardly talk in the next few weeks. It all seems quiet and normal on the outside, even if she senses him watching her carefully, from afar. He is starting with following after her every move, and with constantly examining her body. It freaks her out at the beginning, then it makes her angry, and she thinks bout bursting into his office and demanding him to stop this creepy nonsense, but eventually she's getting used to it. Hell, she even likes it. Because he knows exactly when she's tired and when she's hungry, and he makes changes in the assignments and the routine accordingly. He manages to do it discreetly, amazingly, and even Danny doesn't pick up on it. She feels much better when gradually he manages to let go, and begins to trust her more with the heavy duty assignments. He probably notices that she's not vomiting anymore, and that as a whole she looks more energetic and vibrant, so he is more relaxed, and calm about it. The first day she notices he's not following her home after work with his car, it's the major breakthrough she was waiting for. She ignores the slight disappointment she feels when she realizes he's not there. This is what she wanted all along, wasn't it?

()()()

They have a new case. They chase one of the island's major drug dealers, and his entourage. They have the location of a big drug deal that is scheduled and they spread around the building, to follow the deal from outside. The cameras Chin put in, and the fact that he has everything on tape makes the whole act of storming the building too easy to even count. They walk around the place with HPD and the SWAT team, practically collecting the suspects one by one. All and all it's a very satisfying afternoon, if you ask Danny and Chin. A complete waste of time and of perfectly good bullets, if you ask Steve and Kono. They take off their Kevlar vests, obviously disappointed.

"You're crazy" Danny tells him when he sees him looking miserably at the procedure of collecting the suspects. "This is how you do an excellent police work, you don't have to run around getting shot at, every time you make an arrest."

"I wasn't expecting to get shot at" he says annoyed. He certainly hoped for at least some kind of resistance, but he'll die before admitting it to Danny. "It just looks too quiet and under control. I mean, those are supposed to be the major drug dealers on the island, I thought they deserved a little more credit..."

"You're out of you fucking min..." there's a big noise coming from the left side of the building, and they see someone running away. Someone that was missed in the initial clearing of the scene. He sees Kono starts running after him, shouting for him to stop. He starts running as well, and Danny too, but she has a good five hundred feet on them, when she and her target disappear behind the corner.

He reaches the side of the building with Danny on toe, and he sees her fighting the guy, after ducking him somehow down a big slope in the ground, and she's doing pretty good, until the guy suddenly manages to shake her off of him, and with a few targeted kicks to her stomach, is able to get away.

"Call 911" he shouts to Danny, rushing to her side, and crashing next to her on the ground. She is sitting there, tears on her face when she holds her stomach looking at Steve desperately.

"Call 911" he shouts again, to Danny who stands above them, looking confused with this uncharacteristic reaction.

"What are you talking about? she's perfectly fine. I've seen her taking blows musch worse than this at least half a dozen times before."

"He kicked me in the stomach" she sniffs, looking at Steve frightened out of her mind.

"It's going to be OK" he tells her quietly, holding her hand "Call a fucking ambulance!" he shouts again at his partner.

"What's going on here?" Danny shouts back, in irritation.

"She's pregnant."

"Fuck!" Danny says, producing his phone, walking back towards the other forces, dialing the number.

"It's going to be OK" he says again To the both of them.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Thank you all for reading and following and favoring this fic. My thanks are especially to those of you who took the time to write me some words. Your reviews made me more happy than you know.

I'm sorry about the cliffie, it's more stressful for me, believe me.

This chapter is the most fluffy I've ever written. I don't know exactly how it happened. I hope it's not completely out of synch with the rest of the fic and my usual writing. Hopefully, the characters are still believable. Please tell me if you think I went a little overboard.

Hope you'll like it,

* * *

They bring her into the emergency department and place her in one of the examination rooms. The nurses who rush in to take her vitals and ask her questions, are pushing him around and he finds himself standing at the door, not sure what to do.

"Steve" he hears her call above the heads of the people running around "stay with me..." She sounds worried. He can't remember a single time when he heard her so distressed, except maybe when they found Chin kneeling in front of the five 0 HQ with a bomb strapped to his neck.

He comes into the room, and stands in front of her when they take blood samples and help her out of her clothes. "I'm here, babe" he says. He can't even get close enough to touch her.

"I'm sure, it's all quite unnecessary" she says quietly, referring to the big commotion around her, trying to stay positive. He only shrugs back, looking awkwardly at the nurses and their activities, he really hopes that it is.

()()()

The doctor is a tall, dark woman, with shiny red lipstick and the most impressive hair do, they have ever seen. Kono likes her immediately. She gets into the examination room and puts the chart aside.

"Miss. Kalakaua, I'm doctor Lee" she says as she sits on the stool in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Kono" she smiles slightly.

"Hello Kono, and your... friend?"

"Steve McGarrett" Steve says, extending his hand "I'm her... " he searches his head for the right definition.

"He's the father" Kono says decisively, as they shake hands.

"Very well" Dr Lee turns to the chart, "now, how far along are you, Kono?

"Mmmm... about twelve or... maybe thirteen weeks."

"thirteen weeks and almost six days" he says from his corner earning himself some curious looks from the two women "ninety five days, to be exact." He really tries to be helpful here.

"OK... any problems in the course of the pregnancy? anything out of the ordinary?" Kono has no idea what she's talking about. she honestly has nothing to compare it with.

"She was losing some weight at the first eight weeks, and experiencing some fatigue and nausea, usually at the smell of blood." He says seriously, noticing Kono's amused expression "but she's better now. Full of energy, and doing well. She was taking her vitamins and has been eating pretty well in the last month or so."

"He's a good detective" Kono explains to the evidently, impressed physician "and maybe a little obsessive, too..."

"I see..." Dr Lee says slowly, looking at him thoughtfully "are you keeping records, then?"

"I have the spreadsheets to show you" he says dryly. Kono has to admit she is not entirely sure if he's joking. "Look, she was hurt. A suspect kicked her in the stomach a few times" he says, trying to avoid the weird look the young lady in question is sending him "Can we try and focus on that?"

"Sure" Dr. Lee shakes up from her transfixion with him "Are you in any pain, Kono?"

"No" she shakes her head. "It hurt initially, when he kicked me, and I felt it for about five minutes. Now I can just feel a little strain in my muscles there."

"OK. Let's take a look" Dr. Lee says as she puts on her gloves and helps Kono to put her legs on the straps. She prepares her tools, while Kono is adjusting herself on the examining bed, when she suddenly sees Steve's eyes widen, as he looks at the offensive looking instruments.

"Are you going to faint?" she asks the slightly wobbling SEAL beside her with concern.

"N-no..." he says, unconvincingly. Some of the instruments she lays there, remind him of horror movies he saw as a teenager.

"Sit down, and stay near her head" she orders. The speed in which he obliges her, makes Kono like her even more. She really wish she could order him around like that.

He sits on another stool, next to her, with his hand close to the bed, not sure if he should touch her or not. He really tries not to make any sudden movements, that might annoy the fierce Dr. Lee, and to refrain from additional distractions when she examines the most important person in his life. The most important person in his life. Yeah. He exhales slowly when he realizes that this is in fact what she is, and she must thinks it's because he's shaken from the medical procedure, because she reaches with her hand and holds onto his, and he feels better when she does that, so with his other hand he brushes the hair away from her forehead.

When she gasps slightly during the examination, he leans to kiss her hair, whispering words of reassurance.

"It looks fine. No bleeding or anything else" the doctor says with satisfaction. "Let's take a look at the ultrasound, shall we?"

She brings over the ultrasound machine, pulling over the probe, and adjusts the screen for a few seconds. Suddenly, the room is filled with a regular, rapid and strong swooshing sound.

"Very strong heart beat" the doctor says, obviously pleased, "It all looks pretty good. I can see no reason to worry."

"Is this...?" Kono asks quietly when a black and white image appears on the screen.

"Yes. This is the fetus" the doctor says, "this is the head, the spine..." she indicates to the different body parts.

"Look, Steve. It's the peanut" Kono looks transfixed at the little image.

"Beautiful isn't it?" the doctor asks, smiling at Steve's shocked expression.

"Yeah... It looks..." he tries to make sense of what he sees "it looks like a fish..."

"_A fish?_" the doctor says sharply, almost dropping the probe "this is a very healthy, well developed, thirteen weeks old human fetus, this is definitely _not_ a fish!" she looks at Kono with a commiserating look when she shakes her head in disdain.

"I'm sorry" he says quickly, looking defensively at Kono who seems to be in total agreement with the annoyed doctor, nodding seriously at her.

"You should be" the doctor says, "you can't say such a stupid thing in front of your _pregnant_ wife." when he looks mortified, and confused, Kono only smiles.

"So, that's it? everything is OK?"

"Yes" the doctor says. "You can get back to your normal activity. Only try to avoid getting kicked in the stomach. It's not exactly recommended."

"She will" Steve says immediately "no question about it, anything else we should know?"

"I want to put you on a scheduled follow up in our clinic. We'll do some blood tests and repeated ultrasounds" the doctor tells her. "In a week or two we can also tell the gender of the baby, that should be fun, right?"

"That would be great" Steve says quickly. "We'll be available whenever you say."

()()()

He goes with the doctor to pick up the papers for the clinic, while she's getting dressed. He waits for her to join him in the corridor, and when she does he explains the follow up schedule and the instructions. They walk together, hand in hand towards the exit.

"It was cute" she says suddenly.

"The peanut?" he smiles happily "yes it was. Real cute. Cute as a button..."

"...You still think it looks like a fish, don't you?" she stops and glares at him unbelievingly.

"Well..." he starts, trying to explain himself.

"Don't worry" she laughs, pulling him again towards the exit "you got it spot on. Totally looks like a fish, I almost said it to the doctor myself."

()()()

They are greeted by Danny and Chin at the end of the corridor.

"Are you OK?" Chin is the first one there, running to stand in front of her, holding her shoulders gently.

"I'm fine" she smiles. He always worry about her, so sweet and unnecessary.

"And the...?" Danny is standing beside him, gesturing towards the general direction of her belly.

"She's fine, the baby's fine" Steve says, trying to calm everybody down "it's really nothing to..."

On hindsight, he thinks that he probably sensed Chin's punch coming at least a half second before it came in contact with his jaw. He means, come on, this is probably the only reason he can still talk now, and doesn't have to _drink_ his meals using a straw. The guy sure has a mean right hook. It's Danny's well directed kick to his groin that was quite unpredicted. When he sits against the corridor's wall, trying to breathe deeply, and get over the sharp pain, he tries to remember another time in the past when he got beat up as frequently as he was since he got her pregnant. hand to hand combat and Taekwondo training, come as a close second.

()()()

He has to make it up to Danny, and the only way he knows how is by offering him food. He invites the whole team to a barbeque at his house, and makes sure to buy his partner's favorite coco puffs, especially for the occasion.

He has to declare it a success because: a. he isn't getting beaten up for the entire night, b. Danny is actually saying something nice about his cooking, and even asks for more, and c. when everyone leaves, _she_ informs him that she is way too tired to go home, and that she's staying over. He tries not to put too much on it, because her fatigue level is interchangeable nowadays, and she _does_ make it clear that she plans to sleep in the spare bedroom, and not in his bed, but it makes him happy all the same.

"What happened here?" she asks carefully, when they climb up the stairs, and she turns to open the door to the guest bedroom. Oh Shit! he totally forgot about that.

"I'm... doing some renovations" he mumbles clumsily, scratching the back of his neck.

"What kind of renovations?" she asks looking at the empty and completely bare walled bedroom. "you peeled all the material from the walls and it looks like you have replaced the window."

"I'm also going to paint it"

"Are you building a..." she stops midsentence, looking at him strangely. "What color are you going to paint it?"

"Mmmm... don't know yet" he looks at her steadily "I'll tell you in a week or two."

She stands before him, eyes glinting, mouth open, looking like she wants to ask him or tell him something. He looks back, swallowing hard, trying to keep his emotions in check.

"I guess, I'll have to sleep with you, then" she says eventually. She disappears into the bedroom, before he has the time to answer.

()()()

She lies beside him, wearing only his tee shirt and her own underwear, and he's too afraid to touch her, so he tries his best not to move. He swears, he almost misses the punching stage in their relationship, because, pain he can handle, but _this_ is pure torture. There's no way he's going to be able to sleep with her in the same bed.

()()()

"What are you doing?" he asks when she suddenly climbs on top of him, sitting on his hips and kissing him in a hurried, frenzied way.

"Shhhhh..." she pulls up his tee shirt "just give me a minute. I need to..." she sucks his nipples and he hisses with the rush of adrenalin it gives him.

"Kono..." he breathes "I thought you didn't want us to be together."

"We're not" she bites his neck and sends her hand under his boxer shorts, producing a lustful groan from the back of his throat "we're just having a bit of sex."

"A bit of sex?" he looks at her incredulously, which is hard given the fact that he's... well... _hard_... at the moment.

"It's been almost four months, already" she says sticking her fingernails into his chest, causing delicious pain to spread around his body. "I really need it..."

He grabs her hips with his hands, and helps her to arrange herself around him. When she starts to move on top of him, and leans to kiss him again, he thinks he's almost seeing starts. "115 days" he breathes, feeling her crashing around him, and hearing her rapid, shallow breaths.

"What?"

He flips them over, laying her on her back and holds himself on his arm, above her. When he starts slamming desperately into her, kissing her deeply and thoroughly, he says, between one hungry kiss to the other, "115 days. Since we made peanut."

Who thought that mentioning their unborn child, in the middle of their steamy hook up will be such an aphrodisiac, but _it is_, and he _does_ see stars, and almost becomes deaf from her loud screaming.

()()()

She is lying on her back, and he lies above her. He runs his fingers slowly on her naked body, painting invisible circles around her collar bones, her breasts, and finally on her stomach. She looks up at him, all pliant and content, and he looks softly into her eyes and asks "do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"No" she says quietly, after a long pause, and he feels how his heart is crashing against his ribcage. "But thank you for still asking."

()()()

The next morning when they prepare to go to work, it takes him a while until he finds his shirt under the bed, and joins her in the bathroom. She is brushing her teeth with a new brush he found for her, looking thoughtfully at her own reflection.

"I'm going to stay here more, from now on" she notifies him, when she rinses the toothbrush and puts it back in its place.

"You are?" he raises one eyebrow questioningly.

"Yeah" she says decisively, pushing around him and walking out of the bathroom "Here, I sleep better."

()()()

"She moved in?"

"I have no idea. She just keeps popping in and staying the night, whenever she feels like it"

"Why?"

"She says she sleeps better this way."

"And how do you feel about it?"

"I'm _definitely_ _not_ sleeping better this way"

"Steven..."

"Yes, Daniel?"

"When she's doing all these popping in and staying the night thing..."

"Yes..."

"Where is she doing it?"

"The popping or the sleeping?"

"Well, both actually."

"In the bedroom."

"Your bedroom?"

"Yes... and it's more hhmmm... _popping_, than just sleeping... mostly..."

"She's using you for sex?" Danny, tries to show his sympathy, but fails completely. Probably because he really has no sympathy to the ridiculous situation his partner got himself into.

"She says it's because of the baby, so I have to help her out..."

"And you..."

"Really feel... hhmmm... obligated?"

"I would say sex crazed and stupid, but we can use your word if you want, sure."

"You make it all sound crazy..."

"Honestly, Steven, there's no shred of sanity here."

"I know."

"I mean, she's working for you, spending all of her time with you, practically living with you, sleeping with you, having a kid with you, but she's not in a relationship with you? man, she's screwing with you. And you know... the pun _is_ intended. I can't believe I thought Rachel had issues..."

"OK, it's enough, I got your point."

"I guess there is a good reason why they call it being_ hormonal._"

"Yeah? what is it?"

"Mad Cow Disease was already taken..."

()()()

"You're making a mistake" Lori tells her when they're trying to compare a list of suspects and their rap sheets, from three different states.

"You think? I'm double checking every name before I move it on, to your list."

"I'm talking about you and Steve" great. She was wondering how long it will take her.

"What do you mean?" she sighs, giving in to the idea of the coming conversation.

"Your decision to have the baby. It's a mistake."

"It wasn't really a decision..." Kono says defensively "we didn't really planed for it to happen."

"You're putting him in a very uncomfortable position."

"Putting _him _in an uncomfortable position?!" she must be joking "who do you think spent the last two months bone tired and nauseated. Let me assure you, that in everything related to this pregnancy he was always _more _than comfortable..."

"You jeopardize his position as the team leader, and potentially, you can damage his career" she continues relentlessly. Apparently Lori thinks Kono is the one to blame here. How kind.

"Look Lori, Steve is doing it with me because he wants to. He wants this baby, and he is totally invested in it. Besides, he's a _great_ team leader. Skilled and smart, and he brings results. His career is safe, believe me" she says it, crossing her arms and standing tall, hovering above the other woman "you know Lori, with everything that had happened here, and despite several disagreements, _our team_ is there for us, with all of this."

"Until the governor will hear about it" is that a fucking threat? she feels the rage building up inside her, and she has the urge to reach and strangle the woman.

"You'll do what you have to do" She says breathing deeply, as she starts walking away, because, you know, she's mature, and calm, and completely level headed. Anyway, even though she knows she should probably kill her then and there, she's not really sure she'll be comfortable with the smell of blood, yet.

()()()

"Hey Steve" she calls from the doorway to his office, seeing him punching the keys on his keyboard in high concentration. "Are you worried the governor will find out about the peanut?"

"Mmmm what...? no..." he says, still preoccupied with his computer screen, not even bothering to look up.

"I think I said something stupid and Lori might tell him, because of that..." she says, waiting for his irritated reaction.

"Fine..." he says unbothered, only shaking his head at the things he's reading.

"You might get in trouble, _because of me_" she pushes again.

"Kono" he raises his head, finally, watching her from behind his desk "I don't care, it's fine, there's nothing I can't handle." when she looks satisfied with his answer, he goes back to his task, but she doesn't move "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"I'm hungry, I want nachos."

"You know I never touch this shit, and neither should you..."

"Steve..."

"Fine" he grumbles reluctantly "poison yourself. See if I care. But I really don't have any. Why don't you go pick on Danny...?"

()()()

They go to the scheduled appointment, and wait for Dr. Lee to carefully observe the little image. It takes her a while to look for different problems and abnormalities, but she doesn't find any, and they feel the stress eases gradually as she nods with satisfaction, describing her reassuring findings.

"It's a boy" she says suddenly, and they don't understand what she means initially. When it suddenly hits him. He's going to have a _son_. He looks at Kono, trying to conceal his thrill, because he has no idea if this is what she wants, and he really hopes that she's not completely disappointed, but when he sees her lying there, with her hand on her heart, wearing the biggest smile he'd ever seen, with her beautiful dimples showing lightening her face, he guesses she could probably live with it.

"So, it's blue."

"What?" he smiles, not sure what she's talking about.

"The color to the walls of the spare bedroom."

"Yes" he says, looking back at the ultrasound machine "Definitely blue..."

"I want to name him with an Hawaiian name" she says quickly, propping herself up on her elbows with excitement.

"There aren't any Hawaiian names left" he says, still looking at his son "you used them all on your excessive number of brothers."

"We'll find a new one" she shrugs nonchalantly as they just sit there, glued to the screen.

"he's so beautiful, isn't he?"

"Yes" she looks quietly at the slightly moving image "doesn't even look like a fish, anymore."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N1: **I want to thank you all for reading and following this fic. Watching with quite a lot of fear, the beginning of the third season, I want to explain that, despite what seems to be happening in the show this season with Catherine, I will probably be writing only Steve-Kono love stories in this fandom. With great focus on the Danny-Steve bromance, obviously, as this is my favorite part in the show, at the moment (let's just hope it will improve... because it wasn't really there in the first episode. Even though the banter between Danny and mama McGarrett was pretty good :) Oh yes, some shirtless Steve scenes will be greatly appreciated as well. He looks smoking hot again, what a great joy).

**A/N2: **This fic is getting fluffier and fluffier, and it's a new thing for me, but maybe it's something I need to try. Please Please Please, as always, tell me what you think, I'm feeling a little bit out of my comfort zone in this one.

R.

* * *

"You have to admit it's much better this way."

"I do?"

"Of course. I can't even _start_ to think about the alternative..."

"The alternative...?"

"You must realize there _is_ an alternative for having a boy, right?"

"Mmmm... never really thought about it. Somehow always figured I'll have a son."

"Of course you did."

"I _wanted_ a son."

"Of course you did."

"For god sakes Danny, what's wrong with me wanting a son?"

"Nothing. This is exactly what I said, it's much better this way."

They drive in silence for at least five minutes, each wrapped in his own thoughts.

"Ok, I give up. Why is it better this way?"

"Well..." Danny smiles triumphantly, practically ecstatic with the opportunity to make his point "I thought it was obvious, you're completely useless when it comes to women."

"You're crazy" he states dryly "women love me."

"Only the crazy, slightly damaged, weird ones."

"You're exaggerating..." he says unconvincingly.

"Name one who was not slightly mad _or_ did not ruin your life..."

"Mmmm... Catherine!"

"You mean the Navy Captain you had a semi non committing relationship with for the last six years? a relationship depending solely on her being bored and in the same time zone? the same Catherine we can only assume is not interested anymore, because she didn't really bother to call?"

"I can see you're point. What about Jenna? We were really good friends."

"The same Jenna who sold your ass to Wo Fat, and dragged you to North Korea for a suicide mission? Even you can make better friends."

"I'm pretty good with my sister..."

"Until you actually get together. Then you can practically kill each other. For god sakes Steve, you almost have a meltdown every time she's on the island".

"I guess mentioning Lori will be redundant?"

"That's one way to put it..."

"And Kono's mother actually sent her sons to try and kill me..."

"I'm not sure, that one is completely your fault, though" Danny says graciously.

"Why, thank you for saying it Danno" at last, someone is willing to admit it "I always thought that someone else could have shared my blame for this whole mess, but for some reason everybody kept picking only on me. As I recall, _you_ took a punch at me, too..."

"I didn't hit you because you molested the rookie, or because, apparently, you have no idea of how to use a fucking condom. I hit you because you didn't tell me!" He sends him a dirty look, wondering if Danny can count as another woman he doesn't get along with.

"Grace loves me." Bingo! He knew he'd find someone. Bringing up Grace is brilliant. The girl actually admires him, and hangs on his every word.

"Grace is no example" Danny is incapable of accepting defeat, as it seems "she is the most loving, sweet, kindhearted creature that ever walked the face of the earth. You probably confuse love with pity..." fine. Whatever.

"Kono likes me."

"Yes, she does." Danny says thoughtfully. Finally they seem to be in agreement "and how this one is going for you?"

"Yeah... I can see your point, now" he nods seriously "thank god it's a boy."

()()()

He hears from Joe again. It's a rude reminder of reality, because the long and quiet time without the mention of Wo Fat had actually started to grow on him. Especially when he has other things to worry about. Like the stubborn, slightly insane, overly hormonal and constantly hungry Hawaiian beauty who is currently sleeping peacefully beside him. Did he say beside him? he really means, on top of him. In the last few weeks she seems to be much clingier than before. Instinctively searching for the warmth of his body, tossing and turning around in the bed, until she's relaxing on his chest or on other parts of his anatomy. He wakes up in the middle of the night when one of her long limbs is poking him, or her leg moves unexpectedly to lie on top of his. In the morning he finds her hair covering his face, almost choking him to death. This is when she actually lets him sleep. You know, after she's done tiring him up with her increased sex drive. It's not that he's complaining, not by a long shot. He can totally take the lack of sleep. Honestly, after sleeping in the trenches during several air raids, he can practically sleep anywhere, and he can definitely handle the sex, it's OK. Well, better than OK, if he's being truthful, It's god damn fucking marvelous. As for her warm body pressed against him? that might actually be his favorite part yet... No. those are not the problems. It's the constant waiting for the unexpected that almost brings him to his knees. He lies there in his bed with her body wrapped around him, smelling her intoxicating smell and waiting fearfully to the moment she will change her mind. The moment she'll decide to leave.

When Joe calls and asks to meet, it gives him the opportunity to be distracted by other matters, again.

The new distraction is the whereabouts of Wo Fat. A few leads from Joe's constant searches indicate that he still has active connections on the island. Some of them appears to be more active than he would have hoped. The searches for the man himself are not producing anything, and his old sense of paranoia just comes back with a blast. When he gets a notice about an upcoming SEAL's mission he is requested to take, and realizes that he might have to leave her alone for a while, his mild and self contained paranoia transforms into a full scale panic attack.

()()()

"Aloha."

"Aloha..." she scans him slowly from head to toe "I wondered when you'd show up."

"May I come in?"

She moves away from the door to let him in, and leads him towards the lanai outside. The house is big. There are multiple pieces of Hawaiian art on the walls and on the shelves, and different clothes in different sizes scattered around, as well as books, sports equipment, and at least four different sets of shoes. He spots three dogs which bark at him, a cat, and a big cage filled with singing birds. He sees the quite large dining table, that could easily accommodate at least twelve people, covered with strange arrangement of fabrics and flowers, and there's a nice smell of cooked food coming from the kitchen. It's all very messy and very noisy, and it's big and weird, but it's warm and pretty, and he feels comfortable the minute he steps in. Until he sees her scrutinizing face looking at him again, and he doesn't feel so comfortable anymore.

They sit on two of the chairs on the lanai, and she pours some pineapple juice for him. He takes a sip before bringing up his reason to come.

"You must be quite upset with me" he says apologetically.

"I'm not upset" she tells him, looking anything but.

"You sent your boys to beat me up."

"Yes" she says thoughtfully "a complete failure obviously, they seem quite enchanted with you, now."

"We get along pretty well" he admits "we go spear fishing together almost every weekend."

"Yes. They are a real disappointment for me, these boys..." she sighs "of course, my real hope was always for Kono."

"Sure" he agrees. He has real hopes for her too, as it happens.

"Not anymore, though. She seems quite enchanted with you, too."

"Well, not as much as I hoped, apparently."

"Oh?"

"Look, it was always my intention to do the right thing. I wanted to make it official the minute peanu... the minute we found out about the baby."

"But she refused."

"Yes."

"I know. She told me. It's your fault."

"How is it my fault?" he asks with surprise, trying not to sound too offended.

"Didn't I tell Makaio to tell you not to listen to her?"

"What do you mean, not to listen to her? would you suggest that I simply take her over my shoulder fighting and screaming, carry her to city hall and marry her against her will?" he knows perfectly well, that the image of Kono hanging on his shoulder, kicking and screaming shouldn't cause him as much exhilaration as it does. Especially not in front of her mother. Very counterproductive in the circumstances... maybe he_ is_ a Neanderthal after all, just as Danny says...

"Look. You got her into this mess, it's your responsibility to make it right. But I'm sure you didn't come here for this kind of counseling, what can I do for you Commander?"

"Right, I didn't. I need your help..."

They talk about it for at least twenty minutes, and her mother turns out to be quite reasonable, after all. She understands the problem, and agrees with his plan, and gives him some pointers for how to approach the potentially volatile situation, once he gets home. All and all a very productive conversation, despite the fact that she keeps showing him how disappointed she is with the whole thing, and how he is doing so miserably with her daughter. He actually agrees with this notion, so they really on the same page with this one as well.

"I'll take care of it tomorrow after work" he promises when he stands in the door way, taking his leave. "Thank you for doing it.""

"That's quite all right, Commander" she nods graciously. "I'm doing it for my daughter and future grandson. Which by the way, should not be called after a bar snack anymore if you ask me..." yeah. He'll have to warn Kono about this one, for sure.

()()()

"I'm not going!" she tells him decisively, crossing her arms and looking at him like he's fucking insane.

"Look, baby, it's for your own good..."

"For my own good? are you crazy? you've met her. She will make me eat healthy food, force me to go to all these appointments, and will constantly nag me about all the things I'm doing wrong."

"You mean, like I do?"

"Precisely. Only you have other qualities, too..." she smiles mischievously and moves to wrap her hands around his neck, pulling him into a slow tender kiss, so he momentarily forgets what he was talking about.

"No, Kono" he is finally able to release himself from her strong pull. "I'll be gone for more than a week, Wo Fat is still at large, you have refused to go to Chin and Malia, because their 'coupley' behavior freaks you out, which by the way, I totally get, so unless you want to spend the entire time on Danny's couch, which _you've seen!_, you're staying with your parents and your brothers."

"I don't need to stay in hiding" she says, furious again. Her mood is changing so fast these days, it would be quite funny, if it wouldn't have scared the shit out of him each time. "I can take care of myself."

"It's not a discussion, Kono. This is a direct order from a superior officer" he raises his voice, finally "go pack a bag, now!" The fact that she's just standing there, watching him in surprise when he shouts like that, and turns away to do exactly as he says, is a very satisfying, yet somewhat unexpected, result. He is not sure if he shouldn't be scared of this reaction even more. On their way out, when he holds the door open for her, silently leading her out of the house, she kicks him in the shin, with the toe of her combat boot. Now that's actually feels more natural.

()()()

They say goodbye in front of her whole family, which is not ideal. He gets a warm goodbye from her young brothers, all of them shaking his hand and clapping him on the back, telling him to go kick some ass, and loudly telling jokes about the Navy. Her father and mother, are offering their greetings and blessings, and her mother actually tells him to stay safe, which is a nice surprise. There's no other way to do it, but to acknowledge the fact that he's leaving, and they just stand there, in front of each other, while Danny is waiting in the car to take him to the airport.

"Walk me to the car?" he asks finally, trying to create a sense of privacy, a word that seems to have no meaning in the Kalakaua household. She nods quietly and follows him out the door.

They walk side by side, and at the end of the driveway, he stops and looks at her. She is so beautiful, his heart is racing every time he sees her. In the last few weeks she has become even more beautiful, he can't even say how. She has a small little bump now, which she normally covers with carefully placed blouses, but today she has a tight little tee shirt on, that shows it quite proudly. He sends his hand and puts it on the baby bump, moving it slowly, and feels the tightness starting to build in his throat.

"You take care of yourself" she tells him, as if she is reading his mind "I'll take care of the peanut."

"Your mother doesn't like us to call him like that" he smiles at her, relieved by her strong and leveled tone.

"I know" she says, smiling back "I'm doing it on purpose, just to piss her off. I seriously consider calling him peanut even after he's born, just to play with her mind."

"I love you" he tells her suddenly, and he has no idea who is more surprised with this statement, him or her. She looks stunned, and she blushes, and he feels like he did the wrong thing again.

"Of course you do" she tells him casually, after a long pause, when she looks like she'd recovered from this unexpected bombshell, "I'm pretty awesome, you know..."

He only smiles back, can't say if he's more relieved or more disappointed with her joyful response.

He leans and kisses her on her forehead, as he brushes the hair away from her face, and sends another last look at her baby bump. Than, he is turning on his heels and getting in the car. Danny drives him away from there after a few seconds.

()()()

She spends the entire week in a state of oblivion. She can't really say what is wrong at first, because she is very focused on her job, and they have very interesting and challenging cases, which she handles very well. The stay at her parents is not as bad as she thought it would be, because her mother makes all her favorite foods, and prepares special treats for her, and doesn't let her do anything around the house, because she needs her rest and her sleep, at least that's the explanation she gives her brothers, who actually start to doubt it...

Well, maybe forcing the twins Kale and Akela to wax all her boards for her, and constantly making them bring her things from her home and from Steve's was a little bit over the top, because when one Saturday when she tries to send them on another errand, while she's just lying there lazily on the grass in the garden, they simply have enough of her stupid behavior, and spray her with the water hose, to make her stop. She chases them, obviously, and kicks their butts, and the whole place is wet and muddy and a total mess, but it's fun, and funny, and she is much more relaxed after this exercise. Until her mother catches them, and the twins are not allowed near her anymore. All three of them are quite disappointed about that...

So, she is really gloomy after that, not really sure why that is. Well... she actually knows why. It has to do with the empty office there in the middle of HQ, and the vacant chair inside it, and the empty left side of the bed she sleeps in, that make her feel so sad. He never calls, or texts, or makes any contact, and it fucking sucks. Even Joe has no idea where he is. She keeps thinking about his last words to her, before he left, saying that he loves her, and keeps remembering her poor excuse of a response when he said it, when she made a big stupid joke out of it, and she remembers him in the last few months, standing constantly by her side, fulfilling her constant demands, and endures her changing moods, and accepting her repeated refusals, and she almost dies of embarrassment.

()()()

"I'm an awful person."

"You're not. You're a wonderful person. We all love you very much" Malia tells her, when they walk down the aisle in the supermarket, and making their weekly shopping. Well, Malia does the shopping anyway, Kono has no clue or interest in these kind of things, she just walks behind her cousin, grumbling with frustration.

"I am needy, clingy, with terrible mood changes and no regard to other people's feelings what so ever."

"You're pregnant. You get to be a little needy, that's actually part of your job description" Malia smiles lovingly towards her.

"I barged into his house, forced him to have sex, made him cook for me, and take care of me..."

"He was happy to do it, I'm sure" she starts to suspect that Malia has an irrational high estimation of her character.

"Well, maybe he liked the sex part..."

"You know Steve. He is not the guy to do anything against his will. He is much too arrogant and stubborn for that."

"Good point..." she admits. But she still has a bad feeling about the whole thing "I kept refusing him when he asked me to marry him."

"You're not ready" apparently, Malia is a smartass who has an answer to everything.

"It's worse than this" she says, challenging her loving cousin again "I'm working with him, I spend all of my time with him, I'm sleeping with him, practically living with him, having a kid with him, but keep refusing to call it a relationship? I mean, what kind of a bitch am I?"

"Well sweetie..." Malia stops the cart, and looks at her thoughtfully. At last a real challenge of her unconditional love "we all know you were always a little crazy. I guess the pregnancy just made you a little crazier. Just a tiny bit..." oh, for god sakes.

"It's more than just _a little crazy_" she tells her, standing there, arms crossed, shaking her head "the worst part is that I'm completely in love with him, I can't stand being away from him, and I kept saying no because I thought he wanted me just because of the peanut. But the whole time..."

"He actually wanted you..." Malia completes her thought. "Of course he did. We all knew he did." Malia laughs when she sees Kono's miserable expression "So... what's changed?" Malia asks, smiling gently "what makes you think he wants you, now?"

"He told me he loves me before he buggered off and went to serve his country" she snorts "practically looked into my eyes and told me it straight. I think it actually slipped out, unintentionally, so it must be the truth..."

"Oh! how sweet!" Malia beams with happiness, clapping her hands with joy.

"It could have been. Sure." Kono grumbles, shaking her head again "if only I had the decency to say it back. He was pretty resilient with all of my stupid behaviors until now, but I guess, this one, will finally take him down..."

()()()

She leaves Malia in the supermarket, because she has no way to help her to buy different types of vegetables, that half of them she can't even recognize, and walks across the street to the bookstore. Steve left her a list of books about babies he wanted her to read. She tried to explain that his thorough research, and careful studying of the subject should be good enough for the both of them, but he seemed to be quite determined to make her read them, nevertheless. He said they were books for mothers, and he's not really qualified to do this part of the learning. She tried to argue, because she has a real suspicion, that it's not entirely necessary to read about placentas and contractions, if it can be avoided, but when she entered the office in his house one day, and saw the piles of books, and papers, and opened the computer and realized that, actually, _there is_ a spreadsheet, three of them if you want to be exact... she realized, it will actually save time just to give in.

She stands near the motherhood section, scanning the pages of a book he mentioned, and tries not to flinch with the much too graphical descriptions she reads there, when she has a weird feeling, suddenly, like someone is watching her.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Thank you all for reading and following this story. I am especially thankful for the ones who took the time to leave me a review. I am reading them carefully, and they help me a lot with inspiration and ideas. Not to mention, make me extremely happy and humbled by your encouragements.

I hope you'll like the next chapter. It didn't come out like I originally planned. I changed it a few times, so I hope at the end it still makes sense. I feel weird when it happens this way, because normally I have a specific plan. Hope I'm not ruining it for you.

Thanks for reading, and please leave me a few words, before you leave.

R.

* * *

Her mother sends him to the supermarket where she's supposed to be doing some shopping with Malia, but when he gets there she'd already left. Malia is still there, and she is much more excited to see him than he would have expected. He wonders if it has to do with the fact that he looks like he just came from the battle field, which he did, still wearing his fatigues, or because he feels pretty excited to be back himself. She directs him to the book store across the street, and he makes his way over there. When he looks back, he can see Malia looking at him with a weird smile on her face, holding her hands on her heart. He starts to wonder, if the whole family is slowly starting to lose it completely.

He walks into the book store and goes straight to the sports section, but she's nowhere near the surfing journals, or the other sections of aquatic sport. He thinks that she must have gone to her other favorite topic, but she isn't near the guns and the martial arts sections either.

He tracks her finally, at the end of the last aisle, and it takes him a while until he realizes, she is standing near the family and motherhood section. She stands near the end of the raw of shelves, her body is iluminated by the bright light coming from the big window at the front of the store, and he has to just stop in his track, and watch her. She is standing there, holding a book, reading it silently, while her hand makes slow circles on her ever growing baby bump. She takes his breath away, shinning like this, with the bright light around her, probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It's relatively embarrassing, because he realizes he is standing there admiring her in the most sappy way possible and the whole scene is way too romantic and sweet... well... at least it could have been, because suddenly she raises her head, and looks straight at the store's front window, and puts the book back in its place, and storms out of the store, to the street, reaching for her gun.

()()()

She stands near the motherhood section, scanning the pages of a book Steve had mentioned, and tries not to flinch with the much too graphical descriptions she reads there. Suddenly, she has a weird feeling, like someone is watching her. When she raises her eyes, and looks at the street, she sees a young man, leaning against a sign post, looking into the store. Their eyes meet, and she can see that he realizes she'd noticed him, so when he's turning around and starts running, she's out of the store in no time, chasing him and calling him to stop.

He is probably quite surprised with her commitment to chase him, because it's obvious he doesn't give it his best shot. When he realizes she is closing in, and hears her shouts and sees the gun, it's already a little too late.

She gets him when they run around the corner. He has to slow down suddenly, to avoid running into a kiosk of shaved ice, and she has the time to kick him from the side, so he drops to the ground. He tries to get up, but another targeted kick to his chest, and another one to his face, make him give up the fight completely.

She stands there with her gun drawn, ordering him to sit on his heels and to put his hands behind his head, and she feels quite proud of herself, when she throws him the cuffs and tells him to close them on his wrists, while she dials Danny's number.

()()()

He runs after them, and he has a really bad feeling about this. When he gets to the street he sees her running after a guy, shouting for him to stop. They disappear around the corner, out of his line of vision, and he has no idea who he should worry about more, her or the runner. Honestly, the poor guy has no idea what he's got himself into.

()()()

When he finally reaches them, it's just in time to see her kicking the guy's head in, and cuffing him. She does it so elegantly, and without any problem, he can only watch her with admiration. She still doesn't see him, when she calls for backup, and goes over to check the guy's cuffs. When she turns around, forcing the suspect's arms down, their eyes cross, for the first time.

()()()

"You're back!" she cries with joy, looking at him with her dimpled smile.

"Yeah" he smiles back "did you miss me?" she only nods enthusiastically, feeling all warm and happy inside.

They stand there looking at each other, smiling, not sure what to do. She really hoped to be alone with him, when he comes back...

"Who's your friend?" he asks eventually, indicating towards the guy, who still looks stunned from the short fight.

"I have no idea" she shrugs, looking thoughtfully at the guy "we weren't properly introduced."

"Who are you?" he asks, crossing his arms and getting close to the guy on the ground.

"I didn't do anything" the guy starts immediately "you have nothing against me."

"Why did you run than?" Kono asks, nudging him with her leg.

"You were storming at me with a gun, what was I supposed to do?"

"You were watching me from the street for a long time. Why?"

"I wasn't!" before Steve has the time to pull the guy up, and use his best threatening voice on him, probably smash his face in a little bit, too, if he's being totally honest here, his sweet gentle lover is drawing her gun again and shoves it against the guy's head.

"You wouldn't kill me" he says, squinting, looking desperately at Steve. If he thinks here is where he'll find an ally, he must be out of his mind. "you can't. You're a cop."

"Of course, I'm not gonna kill you. Don't be ridiculous" she says incredulously to the frightened guy, shaking her hair back in that cute way of hers. "I'm going to shoot your knee cups. Both of them. You'll probably need surgeries, and to use a walker for a very long time. If you'd be lucky, and won't get infections or such, you'll be walking with a limp, in about... a year and a half from now. Yeah, and this without the nine months of rehabilitation, and pain... Believe me. You would have wished I killed you..."

He looks at her with obvious apprehension, and she smiles back sweetly, so he turns to look at Steve again, possibly trying to communicate with someone more reasonable.

"Don't look at me" he shrugs seriously "_I_ believe her..."

She points the gun to his left knee, and pulls the safety back, and she can see the guy's flinching.

"OK OK!" he screams. "He told me to follow you. Nothing more. I was supposed to follow you for a few days, and be available with your location if he calls me. I don't know anything else. I swear."

"Who?" he asks, his tall figure shadows the frightened man "who told you?"

"I don't know, I swear it" he shouts again, "I wasn't even doing a good job at it, I couldn't find you anywhere. Just saw you in the bookstore today, by chance... "

()()()

"You're probably quite proud of yourself" she tells him when they drive in his truck back to HQ, with the suspect tied in the back seat.

"Pretty much" he smiles looking at her smugly. "I _did_ tell you to stay in hiding, when I'm not here. Didn't I?"

"I never realized it was so important for you to be right" she says in irritation.

"It isn't. I'm used to it. I'm always right."

"For crying out loud. Are you going to be all gloating and insufferable now...?" she sighs.

"Pretty much" he nods.

"Great" she grumbles "can you stop the car for a second, then? I'm hungry. Believe me, it will be better for the both of us, if you act like that after I eat..."

()()()

"Nice costume" Danny throws towards him when they step in HQ with the suspect.

"Thanks. Go get Chin and Lori" he barks. So it's this kind of mood, then... terrific.

They take the guy's phone and put a tap on it. Danny and Steve have another round with the guy in the interrogation room, but comes up with nothing. Lori brings all the information they have on the suspect, and they discover that all in all he was probably telling the truth. He is a regular low level criminal, with a rap sheet of breaking and entering, a few simple vehicles thefts and some minor charges concerning drugs trafficking. He was contacted by a stranger, and offered five grands to find and follow Kono, and to wait for a call to deliver her whereabouts. They can get nothing more.

She sees Wo Fat's name all over Steve's face. He's in high alert again, all tensed and uptight, and he snaps at everybody, when they come up with nothing, and goes straight to his office and spends at least twenty minutes on the phone, probably with Joe.

()()()

"Hi" she says quietly, as she enters his office, closing the door behind her. He stands there leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed, deep in thoughts.

"Hi" he offers back. Looking at her sadly.

"You're worried."

"I am."

"I'm not" she says seriously, walking towards him, as he follows her every move.

"Maybe you should be" he sighs.

She comes to stand beside him, and gently forces his arms open, and slides under his left arm, and encircle his waist with her arms. As he lays his arm over her shoulders, and presses her closer to him, he feels her head comes to rest on top of his heart.

"Here, in this room, right now" she whispers, and he can feel her words hum against his ribcage "I have the most important things in my life." she looks up at him, and sees him looking at her intently, while his heart is racing under her ear. "The things that make me happy, and make my life complete." He looks at her, with burning eyes, swallowing her every word, and inhaling deeply.

"I love you" she says simply, and she wishes she could say more, and apologize for her previous behavior, and explain how disappointed she is with not being able to welcome him back properly, but it's really hard to speak when he leans and kisses her gently, and it's becoming even harder when he puts his arms around her, pressing her against him, deepening the kiss.

They know they are probably being watched by the rest of the team, behind the transparent walls, and that they still have to figure out what to do with the new potential threat. But everything can wait, as far as they are concerned. Except their baby apparently, because with the rising adrenalin, and the excitement she feels, he feels it would be the perfect opportunity to start kicking.

They look down her belly, because they both can feel it in their current position, and Steve raises his eyebrow in surprise.

"Don't worry" she smiles at him, "I think it means that he likes you."

"I like him too" he tells her, obviously amused at her weird attempt to explain. "Hey, buddy" he says, putting his hand on the baby bump "just don't forget who was here first..."

()()()

It's good that she'd told him she loves him before she discovered what he'd done. The crazy, overprotective, can't take anything lightly, boyfriend of hers, had just brought the whole fucking island to live on her porch. Well... his porch, if you want to be accurate, but she was practically living here for months, so it's not her fault she feels like she owns the place. When they get home from HQ, they find a whole fucking brigade surrounding the house, with SWAT team operatives in each corner. It's a good thing that she loves him, and is having his baby and stuff, because she is so enraged by this unnecessary and exaggerated reaction of his, she could seriously hurt him.

"I'm not having sex with you, while they are all hanging around here" she shouts at him, when they enter the house and he runs up the stairs to secure the upper level. The fact that at least half the team outside can hear what she's saying, and she can hear some quiet laughs coming from them, is a good enough payback, at least as a start.

()()()

"Did you tie her up or something?"

"What?" he looks shocked at his partner's suggestion. "Do you really think I would tie a pregnant woman, which I happen to be in love with?"

"Well..." Danny says thoughtfully "I guess it will have to depend on the circumstances..."

"You're disgusting" Steve notifies him immediately.

"I was referring to the fact that you managed to keep her inside the house, with the entire SWAT team stationed around her. It was _your_ dirty mind which went straight to the gutters."

"Oh...I'm sorry. That's actually a good question in these circumstances..."

"I wonder... why _did_ the mention of tying her up had this kind of sexual association for you?"

"I wonder, if we can just forget about it, and concentrate on what we're doing" by Danny's puzzled look, he guesses the answer is no.

"I still think, it has nothing to do with Wo Fat." Danny says after a while "he is much more sophisticated than using such a stupid low life as a detective for rent."

"I know" Steve nods solemnly "it doesn't add up. Joe thinks the same thing."

"But you decided to declare it has to do with him, in order to persuaded the governor to authorize full protection for her."

"Yeah, and I had to come clean about everything as well. Let me tell you, he wasn't happy."

"I'd bet he wasn't. Is this the way you were able to persuade her to stay home, then?"

"Oh no. She is much too clever for this" Steve says annoyed "she knows perfectly well Wo Fat has nothing to do with this one."

"So you did tie her up!" Danny shrieks in indignation. "You animal!"

"Well, yes... metaphorically speaking... what else could I do?"

()()()

He doesn't really tie her up, or lock all the doors, but it's close. He positions two SWAT teams operatives in each side of the house, and takes away her keys, and have Chin come pick up the car, because he isn't sure she wouldn't be able to jump start it even without them, which is logical, because she actually thought about doing it a few minutes before Chin showed up. He calls her every hour, and runs the location of her phone on the computer, just to make sure she's still where she's supposed to be, and it pisses her off so much, she thinks about destroying the stupid thing. Only it will just make him come back and scream at her, or worse, so she doesn't. By lunch time, She had already called him every single obscene name she could think of, making him laugh with her impressively creative descriptions of what she's going to do to him when he's back. She suspects his comprehension of some of her threats to hurt him, is completely different than what she had intended...

All and all it's a very elaborated and thought of little plan that he has there. He'd managed to cover all the angles, and all the loop holes he could think of, and she has to admit he _is_ as good as he thinks he is, the overzealous prick, and apparently she should have just succumb to his plan, and not try to outsmart him, because as he was saying, he _is_ always right.

Well, he's certainly right about this one, because when she tells the SWAT team leader that she's going to have a swim at the small secluded bay he has behind his house, and after spending at least ten minutes in begging and explaining that there's nothing to worry about, when she's finally diving in the water, wearing only her swimsuit and doing it against Steve's specific instructions, it's quite a shame that she is still slightly irritated. She tries to see, for the hell of it, how far she can go before her protectors will compeltely freak out, and she makes a stupid attempt to swim behind the small breakwater, and it's all coming back at her in a blast.

She hears them shouting at her to stop, so she's already making her way back, before they'd call him and it will get even worse, but it's too late. There's a small fishing boat coming her way, and the people on board grab her quickly, and cover her mouth, and she fights them off, managing to break the nose of one of them, and get the other one in the throat, and break free for a second or two, until she hears a gun being cocked behind her. When she turns around, there is certainly a gun there, pointed at her, and a familiar face behind it. It's Ray Mapes, the fucking bastard.

"We were about to give it up" he tells her, smiling disgustingly "apparently, you're too brave for your own health."

"What do you want Ray?" she asks levelly, watching him carefully.

"Me? I don't want anything, darling" he indicates for her to push herself back and sit on one of the benches on the boat. "But Frank would like to have a talk..."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Thank you all for your kind reviews and support. I'm as always overwhelmed by your kind words and your engagement with this fic.

This chapter came out a little too serious. I think it's because I'm completely pissed with the show now, and I let it influence me too much. Is it only me, or does Michelle Borth has no sex appeal whatsoever? I mean, she and Alex has not even a trace of chemistry. In one of the scenes they were standing next to each other with their bathing suits... nothing. In contrast, it's enough to have Grace Park and Alex talking about some stupid case related detail, for them to light up the screen. It's awful. I'm seriously considering stop watching it completely. The Steve-Danny banter is also, only a hint of the great dynamic they had in the first season.

Anyway, sorry for the rant... (I got it from Danny)

Hope you'll still like this chapter. I promise to go back to the easy-going, light and easy tone in the next one.

Please, leave me some words, so I know what I can do to improve.

Thanks,

R.

* * *

"Hey Steve" Chin knocks on his office door, and indicates for him to come to the main room. They are all gathered around the smart table when Chin pulls out all the data they have on Kono's stalker. "I ran all the data from his previous charges" Chin explains, starting to scroll down a very long list of names. "All the arresting officers, the prison guards, cell mates... See anyone you recognize?"

"Delano" Steve stops the scrolling, when the guy's name pops out suddenly. "He was the arresting officer on a case, four years ago."

"Precisely" Chin says. "I think we have a suspect."

"But I thought the bastard is still in jail" Danny says in confusion.

"Maybe he's looking for revenge?" Lori says, earning some hard looks from all three of them. Steve's phone rings before they have time to tell her to shut up.

"McGarrett" by their leader's expression, they can tell something is completely wrong. "She did what?!" He starts running towards the exit, so they follow him out with a sense of dread. Danny pulls the car keys when they rush down the stairs.

"She swam to open sea." he explains breathless, "they lost her. They think someone pulled her out with a fishing boat."

When he and Danny are getting in the car, Lori and Chin are taking the van, following their lead. There's no use in warning him not to drive too fast. If he could, he would break the sound barrier.

()()()

"I'm going to kill her!" he shouts pushing even harder on the gas pedal.

"She's carrying your child, of course you're not going to kill her."

"He has to come out of there eventually..."

"Yes, sure, but then..."

"Then, I'm going to fucking kill her!"

()()()

They take her away from the little bay they found her in, and make their way quietly along the coast line. She can hear the shouts of the SWAT team officers behind them, as they close in on her last location, but it's already too late by the time they get there. She shivers in her bathing suit, but she suspects it's not only from being cold. The way the three men in the boat are looking at her, pausing for a few seconds on her belly, makes her feel more exposed than she had ever felt before.

"I thought Frank was in jail" she tells Ray Mapes, trying to understand precisely what she's up against.

"Of course he's in Jail" Ray says, "you should know, you're the one who put him there. Doesn't mean he hasn't got phones over there."

When they reach a small secluded beach, they make her get out of the boat, and take her towards a big black van that is parked there. She climbs in the back, where there are no windows, and the car starts to move. Ray dials a number on his phone, listens for a few seconds, then hangs up. After five minutes the phone rings again, and he gives it to her. When she puts it against her ear, she hears Frank Delano's voice.

"Hello, Kono. How nice to talk to you again after so long..."

"Can't say that I feel the same way" she grumbles "Look Frank, If you're looking for revenge..."

"Revenge? are you crazy? you've seen too many prime time television cop shows, sweetheart. I don't want revenge. What's the point? I'm in jail for an attempted armed robbery, thanks to you, I've cooperated fully, I have a very good lawyer, for god sakes, I'm up for parole in less than a year, why would I want to risk that?"

"What do you want from me, then?" he's right, he can really do without additional crimes at this point. "Because I'm not sure abducting a police officer will look so good on your parole application..."

"Settle down, girl..." she can swear she hears him laugh "nobody's abducting anybody. I promise you, I just want to talk."

"This is why you sent Ray here to take me by force? you could have just called me." she has no idea what he wants from her.

"You wouldn't have picked up" this is probably true "and anyway, we have to keep this conversation under the radar. I have no idea who might be listening. I'm calling from a burner, and the cell phone you're using will be destroyed too, after we're done. I can't put a call to you on the jail's records."

"What's going on, Frank?" this is getting interesting by the minute.

"I need your help."

"My help?" he must be insane.

"Actually I need your boyfriend's help. But I thought, among the two of you, you will be the more reasonable one." well, he isn't _that_ insane after all. This is actually a very _sane_ assumption.

"I'm listening..."

"I was approached. Someone wants to use my old connections in the underworld and in HPD and I think it's related to Five-0."

"What are you talking about?"

"I was asked to cooperate, and to give information. They were very clear, explaining what will happen to me if I won't cooperate. I refused."

"You've refused?"

"I did. I came to you instead. As I told you, I'm up for parole in less than a year. I want to avoid further... _complications_... I thought you would appreciate the information, and give me protection in return."

"Why would you need protection? and why would you think that it's any of our concern?" this doesn't make any sense.

"Oh... I think your boyfriend there, would appreciate the fact that I'm telling you this."

"Oh yeah? why's that?" she knows Frank Delano. There's an uncharacteristic sense of urgency in his words, and the same can be said about his current actions.

"The threat they used, it was a photograph of the body of Victor Hesse..." she doesn't have to ask, she remembers perfectly well how he was murdered in jail, under close supervision.

"Who approached you, Frank?" she asks cautiously.

"Hold your horses, sweetheart" he laughs his cruel laugh, and she can imagine his narrow eyes when she hears it "you go back to your men, and get back to me with your commitment to protect me, than you'll get what I have to offer" he hangs up. When she gives the phone back to Ray, he smashes it on the floor of the van.

()()()

They bring her back to the main road. It's about five miles walking distance from Steve's house. When she complains, they remind her that she was the one who made it all so complicated in the first place. They were actually trying to get her to answer the phone in a much more convenient location. Ray _does_ give her some slippers though, so at least she doesn't have to make the walk back, barefoot. She only hopes to get there, before Steve finds out.

()()()

Steve and Danny drive on the back road to his house, scanning for any movement along the coast line, while Chin and Lori do the same from the other direction. Chin also calls a chopper. When they spot her figure, on the side of the road, walking casually towards the house, he almost tips the car over, when he stops it so violently. He and Danny are running towards her, and he has no idea if to hug her or scream at her. She looks so apologetic and remorseful when she sees him, and he is so relieved to actually find her alive, he instinctively chooses the first one. He crashes her against his body, trying to make sure she's not hurt , touching her urgently, all over her body.

"I need to talk to you" she says, but he can't hear her, pressed forcefully against his shoulder .

"Steve, we need to talk" she says again as he pushes her back and looks at her seriously. He looks relieved, but his expression changes immediately.

"_What the hell were you thinking?!_" he shouts, almost shaking her in uncontrolled rage.

"I'm sorry, baby" she says quickly, he can shout as much as he wants later, she really needs to talk to him "Listen..."

"_Do you know how worried I was?_" he's still shouting, pacing around her, rubbing his face with frustration. She never saw him that angry. Well, actually she did. It was during their infamous reunion in the interrogation room, after that retched IA case.

"I know. I'm really really, really sorry. Now listen..."

"_I can't believe you, sometimes_" he continues, not even listening to her "_this is not a game, you know, Delano actually has a target sign painted on your head_."

"You don't understand..."

He doesn't answer, only looking at her in rage, as he produces his phone and calls the SWAT team, to explain the situation.

"Steve..." she tries again, but then Chin and Lori are there too, and the hugs starts all over again, now with her cousin. She still can't say much, when she gets the exact same speech from Chin. She has to be grateful though, it's a gentler, kinder version of it.

()()()

"So... we know Delano is behind it" Danny tells her, when the rest of his team seems to be done with strangling her with their arms, and accusing her of everything but world hunger.

"Yes... " she starts, at last someone is willing to talk to her "but it's not what..."

"He's still in jail, though" he says stopping her midsentence. Apparently he is more inclined to talk than listen, too "we should probably take you back home, and go see him there."

"No, wait..." she starts, because they all seem to be much too eager to solve the already solved mystery.

"You'll probably won't like it" Steve says as he hangs up the phone, in what sounds like a rare moment of awareness to her feelings "but I'm putting you back under tight protection, until we figure this one out." awareness her ass.

"Steve, hold on..." she grabs his arm, trying to make him listen.

"Chin, Lori, we still need to map all Delano's gang members" he cries to the other team members.

"We're on it" Chin says, as he walks back to his car, with Lori following him. Before she climbs into the van, she is looking back at Kono, strangely, and it gives her the chills, for some reason.

When she turns her head, she sees Steve already walking back to the car, talking on the phone to HPD. Danny is taking her arm, leading her gently towards the car.

"Steve..." she starts again, but he raises his finger, indicating for her to wait until he's done.

"_Steve!_" she shouts louder, walking purposefully towards him, but he turns around, away from her, to concentrate on what is said on the other side of the line.

"_Steven J. McGarrett, will you put down the god damn phone and listen to me?_" she shouts so loud a flock of birds is making its escape from a tree, nearby. He hangs up the phone and looks at her in irritation.

()()()

She goes through the whole conversation she had with Delano, and sees the way the new information sinks into Steve, Chin and Danny's minds. After she finally gets them to listen to her, they call Chin and ask him to come over, telling him to keep it from Lori, for now.

"How can you trust him?" Chin asks, skeptical. The memory of his cousin working undercover with the guy is still painful for him.

"What reason he has to lie to me?"

"Why should we care that some criminal asked him for information? he's just trying to take a ride on Kono's good heart" Danny seems skeptical even more.

"He says it has to do with the people who killed Victor Hesse" she reminds them.

"If it does, It means it has to do with Wo Fat" Danny says quietly, and they all look at Steve, who keeps his silence the whole time.

There's a deep tense silence, when they all look at him, standing there, with his arms crossed, with his most serious expression. She can see the way his shoulders square, and his whole body is strained, and his eyes are focused on a certain point on the floor. He looks like he has million different thoughts running around in his brain, and it's as though he is almost slipping away from them. She reaches with her hand, and puts it gently on his shoulder, and her warm touch probably makes him come out of his trans.

"What do you think?" he looks at Chin. He always finds Chin's level headedness and cold assessment of the situation to be the most reliable source of confidence in times like this.

"I don't believe him. But it did take a lot of efforts to talk to Kono." Chin says carefully "I think we should go see him."

"Agreed" Steve makes his decision. "We'll go tomorrow. In the mean time, let's keep it quiet, and between the four of us."

()()()

When they first come back to the house, he agrees, reluctantly, to send the SWAT team away. She wasn't even going to ask, given the fact that he still looks like he can start screaming again at any minute, but he probably sees that this is what she wants, and with the new information that actually changes everything, he really has no reason not to. He never talks to her about it, or about anything else for that matter, and by the time he organizes everything, and finishes all his phone calls, and they let the guys go, she finds herself wishing that he actually _would_ start screaming. His heavy silence is much too loud.

()()()

He keeps quiet for the rest of the evening, but he does all the normal things, like fixing them dinner, while she's in the shower, and eat with her, in silence, and they clear everything up together, and it's almost normal. But it isn't. When they're done, he goes to his office, and she guesses he's reading Delano's file for the thousand time, tormenting himself even more. It takes him some time, so by the time he's done, she's already in bed.

()()()

He goes straight to the shower, and three minutes later, he's out. As he turns off the light, she feels his weight deepening the bed, as he lies beside her.

"Steve..." she whispers silently, but he doesn't answer. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have done it."

"That's OK, babe" he sighs after a few seconds "I'm sorry I shouted."

"You were angry, I understand" she says, encouraged by his will to talk, sitting up and trying to see his face in the darkness around them.

"I was scared" he says quietly after a long moment, after she already thought he was just going to let it go, and his voice is so soft, when he says it, she almost misses it. She bites her tongue to remain quiet and let him continue, and when he does, it almost breaks her heart. "I have no..." he starts to say, and she's happy it's dark because the tears start falling on her cheeks when he's saying half sentences, that tells her all the things he never says "...except for my sister that is... and even she... you must know. You are the only one that... I mean, you and peanut... you're my only reason... If I lose you, I don't know what I'd do..."

"No, baby!" she gasps, leaning on top of him, and holding him tightly, kissing his temple softly, as she's stroking his hair.

()()()

He goes with Chin to the jail, and they meet with Delano in a secured room. He repeats everything he had told Kono, and shows them the photograph he found in his cell, of Victor Hesse's bleeding corpse. He got a visit in jail, they asked questions about HPD and Five-0, and asked about the team and their cases, but most importantly, they asked about his connections, and the network he built in the underworld of Ohau, before he was incarcerated. He explains that they were looking for an ally, a criminal with a grudge against Five-0. The three of them agree that Delano was a perfect contact. They gave him a phone number and instructions to call. This is when he got scared and decided to make a plan. A self preservation plan.

"I want a transfer to a secured location, away from this island" he tells Steve after he gives them all the details, descriptions of the men who came and the phone number "and I want you to remember that I came up clean and provided all the information. These people are serious, you are the only one who can, maybe, protect me from them."

"How can I be sure you're not playing a double game here?" Steve asks, with unease. "How can I tell that you didn't already give them all the information they've asked for?"

"You can't" he answers truthfully. "But my men took your girlfriend and brought her home alive. That should build some trust between us."

They finish the meeting, promising to grant him with his requests. They both know, this will not lead to anything. The minute Delano is out of jail, the leads are gone. On the positive side, the threat is no longer there. It's safe again, but it's back to square one.

()()()

Before they leave, Delano grabs Steve's arm, smiling at him. "I'm hearing she's having your baby" he laughs at Steve's startled look "she's a little spitfire that one, I'd bet you have a real good time with her, you lucky bastard..."

It takes Steve a fraction of a second to pick the asshole up and crash him against the wall. He hits him in the face with his right elbow, breaking his nose, and almost knocking him out cold. He holds the orange colored jumper, to keep him upright against the wall, and presses his face against his ear, as he whispers "Say her name again. Think about her even, and there's no secured jail in the world that will keep you safe from me. Got that?"

By the silent nod he gets from the bleeding criminal, the point is seemed to be made.

()()()

They spend the rest of the day trying to locate the origin of the phone number, and go over the visitors list form the jail. Chin and Kono are doing their magic on the computer, and he calls Joe, who promises to make his own inquiries. By the end of the day, they can tell it's a waste of time. There's no point of secrecy anymore, so they tell Lori all about it, and by the end of the day, he has no other way to avoid it, so he goes to see the governor.

()()()

He has no idea what is worse, explaining why they're shipping out the most important prisoner they have, a person who made a joke of HPD and created so much embarrassment to the authorities, or explaining how no real intelligence has come out of it. He finds himself making so many promises for the future, and so many excuses, that both men know, there's nothing behind it. He realizes that the short leash the governor has him on, is getting shorter each moment the conversation continues, so finally, he gets up of his chair and start making his leave.

"Sit down, McGarrett" the governor says slowly. "There are a few more things I want to discuss with you."

"Sure. Why not." he sits back. He has a strong feeling he's not going to like where this is going.

"Let's start with the SWAT team. I have the 25,000$ bill for having them staying around your house for a day. Any statements you would like to make about that?"

"Yes. they were protecting officer Kalakaua. We were under the impression she was in danger, at the time."

"An impression, that was proven as a false one."

"Yes" he says confidently "and I'm sure we are all _extremely happy_ about that..."

"Of course we are" the governor doesn't even flinch. You don't become the most important political figure on the island by losing such simple debates "an impression, which I think, your officer did not share?"

"Unfortunately, she had other assumptions in regard to the necessity of this precaution" he tries not to choke, making this understatement.

"An assumption which she expressed most vividly when she ditched her protectors, and got herself caught in a compromising situation?"

"Yes. Actually, it was a rare demonstration of impeccable skills in avoidance maneuvers, on her part. I couldn't be more proud " more like homicidally enraged, if he's being totally honest here, but he feels, _proud _wiould sound a little better.

"Very impressive. I'm sure. She managed single handedly to outsmart about nine SWAT team operatives."

"Eleven" He clarifies. In hindsight, it _does_ sound quite impressive. He practically missed it the first time, when he was too busy keeping himself from shooting her or something.

"A very capable, yet somewhat undisciplined young lady, it seems." oh god, he has no idea.

"That's a very accurate description, sir."

"And you said, that she's living with you?"

"It's not exactly clear, I'm afraid."

"But you are having a personal relationship, are you not?"

"That's depend on her mood, I guess" he's not lying, this part of their relationship, was not discussed to the full ,yet.

"She is having a baby with you, is she not?" the governor asks, shaking his head.

"Yes. We're due in a couple of months" he nods, seriously.

"Maybe you should figure it out, before then?"

"I'll do my best" Steve says, rising from his chair and heading towards the door.

"Steve" the governor calls after him "figure out where you want to move her, as well. Lori can cover her roles in the next few months, but it's obvious she's not back after her maternity leave."

"I thought I have full control on the composition of my team" Steve turns around, sharply.

"You do. But you'll see the implications for yourself, after your life will turn upside down with the new baby" he smiles towards him "You would come and ask for her transfer, on your own..."

When he steps out of the governor's office, he decides not to tell her about any of this. If she'd have known, she'd hurt him. Badly. With the physical damage she'd cause him, he's worried, his son will end up being an only child...


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N1: **Oh dear, you guys are great. Let me tell you, writing for this fandom is a unique experience. You are all so nice and supportive, and the you read, and notice everything, is remarkable and humbling. I am constantly amazed by the detailed and caring reviews and by the great support you give and the way in which you express what you feel. So, let me please thank again to each of you who read, and followed and favored this fic. My special huge thank to those of you who took the time to review.

**A/N2: **This chapter is a lighthearted one. I'm in a better mood now, when I see the way most of you are still committed to Kono and Steve, and are not even deterred by Catherine's stupid existence in the show. We went through the obnoxious, and amazingly redundant Lori, we can probably survive this one...

Please tell me what you think.

R.

* * *

He parks the car outside of his house and the second he opens the door, he can hear screaming and shouting coming from behind the house. He draws his gun, and runs frantically towards the back yard, trying to block the crazy images of Wo Fat, Delano and every other criminal in the universe attacking her. When he reaches there, it takes him a while until he realizes what's going on. He stands there, with his gun drawn, and watches with amazement how she, her brothers, and a few more children, he can only assume are related to her, are running and yelling around the place.

"Kono?" he calls out "what the fuck is going on?"

"Oh, Steve" she stands for a minute, surprised to see him "the poor thing, I think he got scared."

"I think he's in the water" Kapali shouts from behind her.

"What do you mean think?" she turns around and runs towards her brother "either he's there, or he isn't."

"He's there, smartass" he hears Kapali calls back in annoyance, as the two siblings go towards the small bay, still arguing. The others are already there, splashing around in the water, and swimming towards the mysterious entity, they were all looking for.

"What's going on?" he asks again, coming to stand next to her, watching the five young men in the water, that for some reason keep shouting at one another. Apparently, there isn't a single activity they can do that doesn't involve them all talking together and making unnecessary noise.

"Kono..." he has that distinct warning tone in his voice, when he says it.

"He's beautiful, you'll love him" apparently she's already immune to his intimidations.

"What did you do, Kono?" he asks in growing alarm.

"I got us a dog, of course" she smiles at him happily "it's probably the best idea I've ever had."

"I sincerely doubt it, sweetheart" he mumbles.

()()()

They come back to shore dragging the obviously reluctant, still hyperactive and completely wet dog. She said dog, but a small white polar bear might be a better description. He is about 35 inches high, and looks like he weighs about 70 pounds. When he stops and shakes himself, to get rid of the excess water, spraying all the people around him with salty water in the process, he looks even larger. He has a big white heavy fur, that now is partially dry, and a long, heavy, wagging tail that hits Akela in the groin, making him to gasp. Before anyone has the time to react, he's already splashing around in the sand, making additional mess.

"Where the hell did you get that?" he looks mortified at the big creature.

"At the pound, where else?" she looks at him in confusion "they were about to put him down. Now he's ours."

"We are not having a dog!" he tells her, shaking his head and turning around walking towards the house "give him back!"

"You see?" Nohoki tells her, watching him go "I told you he wouldn't want him."

"Now what will we do?" Makaio asks.

"Dry him up, and show him his new home, of course" she says decisively, looking at Steve's retreating back.

"But Steve said..." Kale starts.

"Yeah... Steve likes to think he still has a say in this house... he'll catch up eventually..."

()()()

"I thought I told you to get rid of it" he's saying, standing with his arms crossed, watching the big dog lying exhaustingly on the living room floor.

"Yes, you did" she smiles at him sweetly, handing him a bowl with a sliced pineapple.

"Why do you even need a dog?" he cries in irritation "I've made you a baby, for god sakes."

"Children need to be raised around dogs" she tells him seriously "it's really important for their normal development."

"That's nonsense" he says exasperated "_I_ never had a dog"

"I know" she nods gravely "and just look what happened..."

()()()

They have a new case, and it's somewhere in the outskirts of the city, which makes quite a long drive. He's so exhausted, he lets Danny drive, even though it's a bit weird, and uncomfortable. When he looks at his partner, he has a feeling it's even more weird and uncomfortable to Danny.

"So she brought a dog, what's wrong with that? it's nice. It's really good for the baby."

"I've heard this stupid argument already" he tells him "I really don't think that it's true."

"Well it makes Kono happy, and it's just a dog, I can't see what's your problem."

"It walked around the house the whole night, bumping into furniture and breaking a lamp, a framed picture and a bottle of wine with its enormous tail."

"He's getting used to the house. It'll be fine."

"It jumped on the kitchen counter and ate the fucking pie that was sitting there, breaking the fucking plate when it was done."

"This is actually your fault, you shouldn't have left it there, in the first place."

"It ate my sneakers..."

"You'd buy new ones, they were probably quite old, as it is."

"Oh no! He was very careful to eat only the new ones, and he made sure that he ate only one shoe of each separate pair. I'm going to have to buy at least three!"

"You're being ridiculous" Danny tells him "he probably did you a favor, why would you need more than one pair of sneakers?"

"It chased a cat up a tree and barked continuously for an hour and a half, starting at five in the morning. I had to apologize to Mrs. Yang next door, for hours, and have her cry her heart out on my shoulder."

"She cried because the dog was barking?" Danny looks at him with surprise.

"I'm not sure..." Steve says thoughtfully "I think it was because of _the fucking dead cat_!"

"It's a new dog. He'll get used to the house, and to you, it will be fine" Danny says, putting his hand on Steve's shoulder.

"I hope so" he grumbles "because she already loves it, and I'm not sure I can handle _two_ undisciplined lunatics under my roof..."

There's an incoming text to Steve's phone, before Danny has the chance to answer.

"Oh shit. I can't believe it!" he sees Steve's mortified expression.

"What?!"

"My sister is coming to visit. I guess it's gonna be _three_ undisciplined lunatics..."

"You can come stay with me if you want" Danny laughs at his partner's miserable expression. It's ridiculous, he knows, but he actually considers it for a few seconds...

()()()

She and Chin are in charge of processing the crime scene. It's a slow work, and it's not easy in this specific case, because the "murder scene" is practically a fucking Jungle. Apparently, it takes more than this to deter Chin from doing his job, and she herself, is anything but a quitter, so they get to work.

They walk together around the big clearing in the forest, looking for signs on the ground, like footprints or tire marks, and it takes hours, and she's so hungry, she thinks to ask for a break, when suddenly she spots a thin wire.

She calls her cousin, while she's taking a picture of the low hanging wire, that is partially obscured in the grass, and they follow its trail and expose it carefully, and slowly, until they realize it's circling the entire clearing. They spend quite a long time searching for anything else, but there isn't a trace of anything that might look like it's manmade, and they can't understand what the hell it's supposed to be.

"It looks like a tripwire" he tells her "but I'm not sure. It doesn't make any sense, there's nothing here."

"We looked everywhere" she sighs. She's really getting hungry, now.

"We can't just leave it like this" he says looking around them "we'll have to get HPD and maybe the bomb squad, although I have no idea what else they could find."

"Hmmm..." she raises her head up, smiling mischievously at him "I have a better way..."

"Oh no!" he laughs "there's no way I'm going to let you do this. Steve will freak out."

"Don't worry, cuz" she pulls his hand and drags him along with her "if he didn't kill me by now, he never will..."

()()()

They arrange themselves behind the car, and fasten their Kevlars. Well... at least Chin is able to do it properly... Weh they finally get themselves ready, she stands up, holding a heavy stone. She aims, and throws it on the wire, as they quickly duck behind the car again, but nothing happens.

"Did you miss it?" he asks, a second before a big explosion is heard, and the whole place is up in the air.

There's a long, big, deep quiet when they wait for something else to happen, just sitting there looking at each other, until they decide it is safe enough to come out from their hiding place and look at the wreckage around them. It's obvious their targets were protecting something. Everything is black with the subsiding smoke.

"I hope we have everything we need in the photos" Chin tells her, shaking his head at the mess around them "that was one big explosion. Bigger than I have expected."

"Yes it was" she says, giggling at his apparent astonishment "it was awesome."

"You're crazier than Steve, sometimes" he notifies her with a huff, and she laughs again.

"Nobody is crazier than Steve. Now let's go and have lunch."

()()()

They sit near the computer, going over the photos, and sorting all the data they have managed to collect, when Danny and Steve step in, and call everyone to gather around the smart table. Steve gives them the identity of the victim that they got from his finger prints, and sends Lori and Danny to search his house. He has the chief of the fire department calling him on his cell phone, so he lets them go on to continue with their assignment, as he steps into his office to accept the call. He's out of there after a few minutes.

"Ahh, Kono?"

"Yes, babe?"

"Did you, by any chance, happened to blow up the _entire_ crime scene today?"

"Yes, babe." she says innocently.

"I see..." there's a long moment in which he just stands there looking at the two cousins, who seemed undisturbed by his question, still preoccupied with the computer "should I... emmm... expect a phone call from the governor about this? I mean... was it actually as big as the fire department says it was?"

"Yes, babe" she says, not even raising her head.

"OK. Fine. Just checking..." he sighs. Then he goes back to his office.

()()()

"He's amazing!" Mary Ann cries, as she drops next to the barking dog, patting his big white fur as he greets her at the door "what's his name?"

"Fleabag!" Steve says from behind her. "Kai" Kono says, rolling her eyes at her boyfriend.

"He's so beautiful" Mary says, dropping her bag on the floor beside her, and raises up in front of Kono, and touching her growing belly with a smile.

"I wish you've shown the same enthusiasm when I showed the ultrasound picture of the baby" Steve grumbles from behind her, lifting her bag, and carefully putting it against the wall.

"It's not the same, Steve" she turns towards him, "It's not _my_ fault the kid looks like a fish."

"I have a better picture than what he has in his wallet. Come, I'll show you" Kono pulls her by the hand towards the living room "he's actually a real sweetie, the little peanut."

()()()

Kono gets abducted by Malia and her mother, who decides to take her shopping for maternity clothes for herself and also some clothes for the baby. She begs him not to let them take her, but her mother is very explicit, when she calls in the morning and threatens to take him too, so he tells her he can't, for obvious reasons, and makes his escape, taking Mary Ann with him.

"Look at you, you're happy" she smiles towards him when they sit to eat breakfast at a diner somewhere.

"I am" he confirms, focusing on his blueberry pancakes.

"You look good. _She's_ good for you."

"Yes" he smiles back, sipping his coffee "she is."

"And the baby..."

"Yes" he smiles "the baby is good, too. You know, I never thought..."

"Neither did I" she looks at him lovingly "I wish they were here, to see this" her eyes are filled with unshed tears, suddenly, and he reaches his hand and takes hers, squeezing it in understanding.

"I'm glad that _you_ are..." he tells her, looking sincere and serious all of a sudden.

"Oh stop it, I'm going to drive you so crazy in a few days..." she reminds him with a little smile, trying to go back to their usual banter.

"I'm not so sure" he says thoughtfully "I was able to face much bigger challenges, recently..."

He's wrong, of course. It takes about twelve hours until he wants to fucking kill her.

()()()

He stands under the current, and lets the water wash over him, giving in to the warm and relaxing sensation on his skin. He never has this experience in the shower, not with his three minutes rule and all, but she went right after him, and started talking, so he has no other choice but stay there and listen.

"They took me to _six_ different stores" she cries "can you believe it?"

"Well, babe, they wanted to buy you nice things, right?"

"_Six stores_, Steve" she repeats "of maternity clothes and bras, and god knows what else" she opens the shower curtain "_six!_"

"I'm sorry, babe" he mumbles, because he'd learned how effective and time efficient it is to actually agreeing with her. "Did you find something nice?" he asks, even though he doesn't really care. She always look nice, if you ask him, no matter what she wears.

"These clothes are all so awful" she tells him miserably "they are hideous, and I'm so fat."

"You're not fat. You're pregnant" he reminds her.

"I look like a whale."

"You look beautiful" he smiles. It's the truth.

She looks doubtfully at him, running her eyes all over his naked body. "_You're_ beautiful..." she says, licking her lips absentmindedly "I could just _eat_ you..."

She takes off the floaty dress she is wearing, and kicks off her panties, and steps under the current with him, and his hand reaches automatically to encircle her shoulders, pressing her chest against his. He kisses her lips, and pins her back against the wall, and helps her position her leg around his hips. It's not simple with her quite large belly, at this point, but they are so practiced, they are able to find the right position, easily. When he feels her starting to move around him, and his tongue is already trailing along her jaw line, she grasps his wet hair, and sighs with the sensations and burning heat his touch incites inside her.

"Oh, baby" she cries, holding him against her, as he moves faster and faster.

"Oh, Kono" he hisses.

"Oh god!" Mary Ann shouts from the shower's door.

()()()

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he shouts with pure mortification.

"I wanted to take a shower, what do you think?" she shouts back "how the hell should I know you can't even restrain yourself for a three minutes Navy shower? don't you two have a room? I mean, this is a public area."

"You have your own bathroom in the lower floor, for god sakes" he cries in indignation, trying to recover his breath.

"Your dog is there, drinking from the toilet, and barking every time I get near him." she informs him calmly. The fucking dog.

Kono starts moving away from him, and tries to get to the towels, and cover herself up. It's not that she's shy or anything, but the water are getting cold, and it doesn't look like the two siblings are going to finish their argument any time soon. "Don't you dare move away from me" he holds her forcefully against him.

"Oh, give it a rest, Steve" Mary Ann rolls her eyes at him "you've seen me naked before, too..."

"Yes" he shouts angrily at her "when you were three!"

"It still counts" she declares. "Besides, I'm the real victim here, walking on my brother fucking his pregnant girlfriend in the shower... You probably ruined my sex life forever!"

"One can only hope..." he shouts after her, as she's walking away.

()()()

"No. She's staying right where she is. She's your only sister."

"But..."

"No. She won't tell Danny, I promise."

"But I can't..."

"You're definitely _can_ have sex with me. Even while she's still here."

"Kono..."

"Unless you want _me_ to tell him..."

()()()

"Who is this?" she whispers into Kono's ear when she comes to HQ to take her for lunch the next day.

"Who, Lori?" Kono asks looking to where Mary Ann's eyes are glued with curiosity. "She's the governor's pet. He put her in the team to monitor our actions and report on our more... _questionable_ actions."

"You mean, to tell him whenever Steve is throwing people off roofs, drowning people in sharks infested water and throwing grenades inside pawn shops?"

"More or less" she mumbles. That's sound like an accurate collection.

"Oh... she must be very busy then..."

Kono smiles kindly at her. Mary Ann is the same age as her, but somehow she looks younger. Maybe it's because of the way Steve is treating her with such caution, always sure she's in trouble or in danger. He told her once, in a rare moment of candor, that he feels responsible for Mary's disorganized life and her inability to focus on anything for long periods of time. She thinks it's because when they were separated, as children, while_ he_ was sent to military school and then, to the Navy, _she_ who was only a little child, found herself moving between distant relatives and old family friends, somewhere on the mainland. He's probably right, she had it quite rough then, and maybe this is why she can't easily handle the demands of the '_system'. _At least, not as much as he can. They are different people because of this. She just wishes he could see how amazing his sister really is. She has to show him one day, what a feisty little creature she is, how smart and resourceful, and how she can always land on her feet, like a street cat. She is funny, and good natured, and she speaks her mind without any fear. She is probably more loyal to him than anyone else she can think of, too. She can see the way she looks at Steve sometimes, so lovingly and adoringly. If he only knew how she practically worships him. But he never notices.

"You'll be a wonderful aunt" she tells her suddenly "my son is going to be so lucky."

"Really?" Mary Ann blushes with the unexpected compliment.

"Yes, he definitely will" she says again, smiling "now let's go have some junk food, before Steve finds out."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **I'm so sorry for the delay in this update. Too much work, and too many deadlines and sleepless nights. As always, thank you all for your kind reviews. Thanks for you who read and follow this fic, thanks for the people who favored it and especially to the ones who took the time to leave me some words.

We're getting there...

Please tell me what you think.

* * *

"Tell me again why do _we_ have to do it?"

"Well... emmmm... Kono felt, that since _I_ have actually made the list, and read all the books, and well... you know... since _you_ have already got a kid... that maybe if _we_ will be the ones to actually do it, it will be better. For everyone."

"Right..." Danny looks at him skeptically "you mean she took one look at the six pages list you've prepared and threw you out of the house to handle this mess on your own."

"Pretty much" he sighs "I mean, it all looked so simple when I read it in the books..."

"OK, OK, don't worry" Danny puts his arm on Steve's shoulder "we can do it. You're a Navy SEAL, I was working the slimy streets of New Jersey, between the two of us, there's nothing we can't handle, right?"

It takes about two hours until they realize that there are actually quite a few things they _can't_ handle.

()()()

"I think we need to take the BPA free stuff."

"Why? what the fuck is BPA?"

"I have no idea, but all the books say we shouldn't use it."

"We never had any problem with BPA when we had Grace" Danny mumbles.

"And Grace is awesome... and very healthy..."

"Precisely."

"So, you think we should buy the BPA one on purpose?"

"I have no idea. You're the one with all the books."

"You're a great help Danno, really" Steve states dryly "Jeez, I should have taken Chin..."

"You most certainly should have..."

()()()

"Why do you need a specific instrument to clean baby bottles? can't you just stick them in the dishwasher like everything else?"

"That's a great point, Danno... this is probably quite unnecessary, you're right, I'm not buying it."

"See? I am a great help to you after all."

...

"You're still thinking about the bottles sanitizer, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah..."

"I thought we've decided not to buy it, an hour ago."

"We did. You're right! forget about it."

"What's the problem, Steve?" Danny huffs exasperatedly.

"I keep thinking there might be something I'm missing, what if they have special scary bacteria that can actually hurt him?"

"Don't be ridiculous. He's a ninja baby SEAL, nothing can hurt him."

"You're right. I'm letting this one go... good..."

...

"What now, Danno?"

"I don't konw, I'm just thinking..."

"What?"

"He's only a tiny baby, and he has Kono's genes too, so maybe his ninja super powers will not be enough..."

"You're right! Let's go back and buy the bottles sanitizer. Just in case."

"Yeah, yeah. Just in case. We're only trying to be responsible here..."

"I hope you realize, we've just wasted an hour because of your indecision." Steve tells him in irritation.

"I do, Steve" Danny says pleasantly "just shut the fuck up!"

()()()

It takes them four hours to find most of what they need, and by then they have two carts filled to the brim, with different items, most of them they can't name, leave alone, explain what they're used for. Both of them are pretty exhausted and quite annoyed with one another.

When they reach the strollers' section, it's the first time the look of dread and despair disappears from Steve's face, and he looks almost... well... giddy.

()()()

"Look Danny, they have something called the _TurboFX 2000 stroller._"

"Steve, there is absolutely no need to buy a stroller with the word _turbo_ attached to it, to a newborn baby."

"But it has a cast molded wheel and a unique air pressure turbine for adjustment and safe breaking" he reads from the description on the attached sign, his eyes glowing in excitement.

"What the hell are you talking about? this is a stroller, not a motorcycle." Danny rips the sign from Steve's hand "I stand corrected" he raises his arms in surrender after a few seconds "judging by this price, it could very well be a motorcycle..."

They stand in front of the shiny red stroller, shaking their heads in astonishment.

"This is way way over the top, Steve."

"Yeah, definitely." he nods vigorously "it's fucking awesome. We're taking it."

()()()

They get to the house to find Kono and Mary Ann trying to discipline Kai, and teach him to respond to instructions. Accepting defeat is not exactly one of Kono's strong suits, so she's more than happy to stop the failed attempts and greet them at the door. She and Mary Ann spend a few minutes looking at the guys carrying bag after bag of their recent purchases to the nursery, looking at each other in amazement. When Steve shows them the new stroller, they both start laughing uncontrollably.

"How can a tiny baby need so many things?" Mary Ann cries out, giggling.

"Yeah" Kono laughs too "he's going to be what? six or seven pounds? what would he do with all this stuff? I mean, come on, he already has more clothes than you and me put together, especially now, that mom brought all the twins' clothes too, and he actually has two of each set of clothes.

"I can take it all back, if you want" Steve scratches his head looking at the big mess on the nursery floor "I've tried, but I simply couldn't see what we can leave out..."

"No, no" she shakes her head still laughing, and turns to hug him tightly, kissing him chastely on his lips "it's great. You did an awesome job. Thanks, babe."

He feels a little awkward, blushing with this unexpected display of satisfaction, so he smiles sheepishly before he drags Danny out, hearing the two girls still laughing as they go through the enormous pile of baby equipment.

"You see?" Danny tells him, when they walk downstairs "nothing we can't handle."

()()()

They walk outside to the lanai, and sit there, drinking their beers.

"So you're all set" Danny says, obviously impressed.

"Pretty much" he nods. "Kono's dad is making a crib and a dresser, and we bought practically everything else."

"Only a name, then."

"This is not up to me, actually."

"Really? why? it's _your_ son."

"They all want an Hawaiian name. Which I have no problem with, I'd love it really. But her mother wants to name him after her grandfather or something similar, and the whole family is involved now. I think they actually have meetings with all the aunts to try and decide about the proper name. I only hope they will let us know of their decision, on time."

"What? it's crazy, you don't have any say in this?"

"Nope" he takes a sip from his beer "maybe if Kono will put her foot down... but even then, I really doubt it. I've asked Chin, he said it's a lost cause."

"So you just gonna take it sitting down?"

"Pretty much" he shrugs "you've met her mother..."

()()()

She wakes him in the morning, fifteen minutes before the usual time, kissing his shoulder, and humming quietly against his skin.

"What do you want?" he grumbles, turning his head to the other side and away from her.

"Steve, wake up" she shakes him gently "I need you, it's important. Come on, baby."

"What's wrong?" he wakes up and raises his head sharply, looking at her in concern "is it the baby?"

"Of course not" she rolls her eyes at him "don't be ridiculous. It's way too early for that."

"What is it then?" he turns on his back, and scratches his face in annoyance. When she sits up quickly, raises her leg and straddling his hips, he gets his answer. "You woke me up for this?" he asks dryly.

"It will just take a minute" she smiles, leaning down and kisses him quickly, getting rid of her underwear in the process.

"Thanks" he mumble "that's actually gets me right in the mood..."

"Don't pout, baby" she smiles and reaches with her hand under his boxer shorts, causing him to gasp with the expert movements she makes "better now?" she whispers, as he closes his eyes and holds her hips forcefully.

"Much better" he breathes, feeling her hands tighten on his chest as she arches her back.

They start moving together, and he gets that special feeling in his belly when she moans, until...

"Steve?" there's a knock on the door, and Mary Ann is calling him from the other side. He swears to god, this girl has the worst timing in the history of the universe.

()()()

She does have a good reason to interrupt them. He admits it. Well, the fact that she's still alive an hour later when they go to meet her friend Miranda, who works with her on the same flight crew, is a proof of that. Miranda called her, freaked out and crying, and told about a load of drugs she found in one of her bags on her flight from LA to Hawaii. It's a well known fact the Mary Ann has a badass brother who works in Five-0, so this is why Miranda calls even though she is scared shitless. He calls Danny and have him meet them in the hotel, and it looks like drugs, no doubt about it. The fact that Mary Ann vouches for the innocence of Miranda, and the fact that Kono and Chin back in HQ, can't find anything about the girl, suggests that they're facing a mistaken identity case, and probably stumbled over a drug smuggling operation. All flight attendants has the same kind of bags, and after excluding Miranda they are still left with quite a few suspects, but the shipment was not delivered, and there might be someone who is looking for the enormous amount of drugs, and the whole crew is scheduled to go to LA and back to Hawaii, the following day, so their best shot is to put someone in Miranda's place and see who will try to make contact.

()()()

"So we just sit and wait and see who will come to take the bag?" Mary Ann asks in annoyance, when they're back in HQ meeting the rest of the team.

"No" Steve says patiently "we'll be much more proactive than this. Your friend will call in sick, and we'll put someone else in her place. I don't want to raise suspicion among the other crew members."

"An undercover job?" Mary Ann's face brightens with excitement "so I get to work with Kono? how fun!"

"Kono is way to pregnant to be working as a flight attendant" he shakes his head, trying to avoid his girlfriend's shocked gaze, and not missing the way Chin is putting his hand on her arm, to keep her from responding in the way she most obviously wishes to. "Kono and Chin will be in charge of monitoring the flight, and the personnel, Danny and I are going after the drugs, Lori you're undercover, you'll be joining Mary Ann's crew."

()()()

He goes back to his office, to make a call to the airline manager and the governor and coordinate the operation. When he looks back into the big room, he can see two very unsatisfied women, looking at him with fury. It's the first time he's actually happy they have a dog. Kai is an undisciplined, over excited, wild pain in the neck, but at least it's another male in the house with him.

()()()

It takes her three and a half hours to decide she really dislikes Lori. Honestly, the girl is completely obnoxious, and much too uptight. She has no idea how Kono can actually restrain herself from fucking shooting her. She's doing a good job in learning the work, and taking on the assignments, and she keeps her cover pretty well, but she never saw anyone so serious. She means, the girl doesn't even smile once. She hardly talks, too, and when she does, it's just about technical and boring stuff.

It's when she _does_ start to talk, eventually, that Mary starts to really _hate_ her though. They have lunch together, in the airport somewhere, and Mary tries to make a conversation for the hundredth time. It's weird, because she seems to _want_ to talk all of a sudden, now that they're all alone. Mary's pleasure soon changes into fury, and she actually wishes she'd shut up.

They start talking about Five-0, and the conversation moves to Steve, naturally, and Lori seems much too eager to develop this part of the conversation than Mary thinks is healthy. To any of them.

"You and your brother are very close" Lori says off handedly, looking quickly at Mary, before burying her eyes in her plate.

"We're Ok" she shrugs. Close is a real overstatement here.

"He's really special. Your brother that is" she mumbles again. looking at her with anticipation.

"Yeah, special should cover it" she shrugs. If by special she means, a little bit crazy and way overly intense and obsessive, then special it is.

"It's really strange, that he and Kono are actually..." Lori says thoughtfully "I mean, if not for the pregnancy he probably wouldn't..." The little bitch! Kono said something about Lori trying to get into Steve's pants, but she thought it was only the usual response he gets from every woman who fucking sees him. Especially when he has his shirt off, hich can happen. A lot. Lori is just a human being after all... Well... there must be something completely different here, now that she's seeing how Lori is trying to fish for information about her brother's availability, while he is _having a family with Kono_! Lori is lucky that Mary Ann doesn't share her brother's homicidal tendencies. Unfortunately for Lori though, she has other tendencies, even more dangerous than his...

"Well... you know Steve" Mary says casually, hiding her anger expertly "always trying to do the right thing. He couldn't just turn his back on her, in a time like this."

"I know" Lori says animatedly "this is what so special about him. I don't think he even... I mean, are they really in love?"

"Steve and Kono?" Mary Ann seems to be in total surprise by this suggestion "It's definitely not love. It's more... _friction _if you know what I mean" she smiles, and winks towards the blushing Lori "Kono is hardly his type, obviously."

"Really?" Lori looks at Mary transfixed by her words.

"He really doesn't like women who share their opinions all the time. Kono tells him he's wrong at least a dozen times a day, and she argues with him, _all the time_. He likes women who agree with him, and are sweet and gentle, and he really likes to be touched. All the time. Which Kono never does, as you can obviously see, at work... she _never touches_ him. Why do you ask?" she smiles sweetly.

"Well... I really thought we had a special connection, he and I, before this..."

"Then you should tell him" Mary Ann exclaims with emotion "the sooner the better, because he only has loyalty to the baby, until they have the test, you know... after he's born. He should know you want him, and you should be very clear and come on to him fast and strong, because that's what he likes. You're more of his type anyway, small and blonde, like Danny. He'll be ecstatic."

"But what about Kono?"

"She can't do anything to you, she's eight month pregnant already. She'll probably be happy to get rid of him anyway, I don't think her mother likes him very much..."

"Thanks Mary Ann" Lori smiles broadly "I feel that we can be very good friends."

"Sure" Mary smiles back "just do _exactly_ as I say, and I can't see anything that will prevent it" A hole in Lori's head after Steve will fucking shoot her, will probably prevent it, but she tries not to think about things like that when she's eating.

()()()

They make their way out of the arrivals secion in Hawaii's international airport, and start to make their way with the bags, among all the people. She can see Danny and Steve standing in one side of the big hall, watching the crowd intently. Chin and Kono are sitting in the van outside, watching the camera's feed and trying to identify a suspect.

"Blue shirt, at your six, holding a newspaper" he hears Kono's voice in his ear.

"You sure? I see no one approaching Lori's bag"

"I'm sure, he's watching her, he'll go for the bag, trust me."

It takes one minute before Kono's assessment appear to be correct. They see the young man in the blue shirt walking fast towards Lori, pushes her violently and grabs her bag. When he runs, Steve and Danny are running after him. He runs out, and tries to pass near the van, the poor guy, when Chin opens the door and slams it in his face. He had a car waiting for him near the entrance to the airport, and Danny and Steve are in pursuit. It takes a few minutes until they are able to find the other guy.

()()()

It's a simple case, with good results, so it's still early when they are happily gathered back in HQ, eating and talking, and waiting for Steve to come back from his meeting with the airline manager. When he comes back, satisfied, and walks to his office to bring them all some beers, Lori follows him in there.

()()()

"You told her what?!" Kono and Danny are looking at Mary with amazement.

"I couldn't help it, she's so annoying"

"He'll kill her" Kono says quietly, watching the transparent door of her boyfriend's office and seeing him holding a few beers, and looking at Lori, who speaks to him, with growing alarm. When Lori gets closer to him, and puts her hand on his arm, he almost drops the beers he is holding when he turns sharply away from her. Kono is only a breath away from reaching for her gun.

"Mary Ann, I think I'm in love with you" Danny says as he holds the young girl to his chest, and kisses her forehead forcefully.

"Yuck! get off!" Mary Ann laughs "I'm Steve's sister, it's disgusting."

"Don't overreact" he rolls his eyes at her "I'm saying it in the most brotherly way possible..."

They look back towards Steve's office, and see him getting out of it, slamming the door shut behind him and walking angrily towards them.

"It's a fucking nightmare" he tells them when he gets in, pacing before them holding his head in pure despair. "You" he points to Mary Ann "are dead! and you," he takes off his gun's holster and puts it in Danny's hand "hold this. If I'm not careful, I might shoot her..."

He walks back to his office and they see him standing in front of Lori, and talking to her seriously, his arms crossed in his familiar interrogation room posture. It's like watching a horror movie. They simply gaze into the room, and wait for the blood...

()()()

"Look Lori" he says quietly, trying to regain his self control "Kono and me. It's the real deal. We're together and we're committed to one another."

"But she's all wrong for you..." Lori cries in irritation.

"Lori" he stops her sharply "I love Kono, more than I've ever loved anyone. More than I ever will. She is what I need, and what I want, and as crazy and weird as it might seems to you, we are building a family together."

"Steve..."

"Look Lori, I know that you have... well. I know that you would have wished things to be different, but they're not. I really think you should offer your resignation, at this point."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm dead serious, Lori. Resign, or I'll force you to go."

"The governor..."

"The governor will do as I say. Lori, think about it, it's for your own good..."

"You're making a mistake" she spits at him.

"No, Lori" he says quietly "I'm really not."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **Thank you for your kind reviews. Thanks for everyone who reads and follows this fic. This fic. is getting longer than I have anticipated. But it's not my fault Kono's pregnancy takes so long...

This is really the most fluffiest chapter ever. I hope it's not over the top. I'm trying to keep the characters in sync. Writing Steve in character and still have him involved in all this fluffiness is a real challenge. I hope I was able to do it, because this was where I was aiming.

Please tell me what you think.

R.

* * *

"What's wrong, babe?"

"Nothing is wrong. I'm just... a little preoccupied."

"You've been _preoccupied_ for days now. If I didn't know better, I would say you miss Lori..."

"You're funny" Steve states dryly, raising his head to look at her sitting beside him on the grass "you know perfectly well, I was completely freaked out whenever she came near me. But if you must know, it actually does have to do with Lori..."

"It does? What does?" Kono stops brushing Kai's thick fur and looks at her boyfriend with what can only be described as a _threatening curiosity_.

"Well, she was my backup to when we have peanut. Now, we have to think about something else."

"What do you mean your backup?"

"Someone has to fill in for you, when you're on maternity leave, didn't you think about that?"

"I didn't" she looks at him in astonishment.

"Obviously" he grumbles and pushes Kai away from him when he jumps and tries to lick his face, affectionately.

"Don't chase the dog away, can't you see he likes you? why do we need a backup anyway?"

"If he likes me, he should be a good dog and stay away from me" he notifies her "I thought it would be good for you to stay home with peanut for as long as you want. You know, without being concerned about work. The governor was OK with it, too. He was the one who practically suggested it in the first place..." he pushes Kai again when he decides to rest on his leg "this dog is a pain in the neck, I'm telling you. Anyway, I thought that this way you'd be able to stay at home for a while, and then, if you want, you can come back to..."

"What do you mean _if_ I want?" she says sharply and looks at him like he had just grown another head.

"_When_" he says quickly "I meant _when_..."

"You meant _if" _ she points Kai's brush at him "I knew it would happen. I knew you would try to push me away from Five-0 the minute I gave birth..." she tries to raise from her sitting position on the grass, and finds it more difficult than she had anticipated, finally being forced to use his shoulder for leverage.

"No Kono, wait..." he tries to hold her hand when she is able to stand at last, and passes around him to go into the house "I would never..."

"Damn right you wouldn't" she shouts, doesn't even bother to turn around "and you should be nice to Kai, because you're sleeping in the living room tonight, with him."

"You obviously don't mean it, babe..." he calls after her, but she doesn't look back "what are you looking at?" he asks Kai who looks back at him in exhilarated anticipation "she's only joking. I hope..."

()()()

"He wants me off Five-0!"

"Of course he doesn't" Mary Ann says reassuringly, "he's just worried. You know him, he's always worried."

They lie in Steve's and Kono's bed facing each other listening to Steve's footsteps as he paces back and forth in the living room. They can hear Kai's footsteps too, as he follows his every step.

"He wants me to stay at home with the peanut, so he can continue to do his job, as though nothing had changed. He thinks my work is less important than his."

"Of course he doesn't" Mary Ann holds Kono's hand in her own "he wants you to be happy. You know how he is, he comes up with some kind of an elaborated plan, and has all the details covered, probably written somewhere with spreadsheets and tables, and graphs, and just forgets to ask you what you think about it. He does it every time. He did it to me too, when he decided I should live away from Hawaii."

"You're right" Kono looks at her in alarm "I can't believe I'm having a baby with him" she moves her hand protectively against her big belly "poor peanut... he'll probably make him go through jungle survival training series or a deep sea scuba diving with not gear or something even before he turns six..."

"Yeah, and teach him how to shoot a sniper rifle even before he's three" Mary Ann laughs.

"Actually, I should be the one who teaches him how to shoot" Kono says thoughtfully "I'm better at it than he is..."

"You're both crazy, I should take the poor kid with me and hide him in L.A." Mary Ann tells her dryly.

"At least I'm not crazy enough to force Steve to give up his job, and stay at home doing the laundry all day long" she says in despair.

"He didn't mean it like that. You know he's not _that bad_, really..." Mary Ann laughs at Kono's miserable expression.

"Of course he isn't" Kono says quickly "you know I love him. It just... sometimes he's being too..."

"Intense?" Mary Ann smiles as Kono's face are covered with a beautiful blush.

"Yes..." she smile sheepishly "it's kinda sweet really, when he becomes like this, and really sexy, too"

"Yuck! gross" Mary Ann feigns nausea, putting her finger down her throat.

"Don't do that" she laughs "how do you think we came to have the peanut in the first place?"

"I don't know" Mary Ann shrugs "by getting drunk out of your fucking minds?"

"Not _that_ drunk..." Kono winks at her.

"You're disgusting" Mary Ann notifies her.

"You're in my bed" Steve says from the doorway.

"You're sleeping in the living room" Kono reminds him, but her determined declaration is ruined by the lustful look she sends him when he enters the room in that specific point of their discussion.

()()()

"Don't worry, I'm going" Mary Ann turns to get off the bed "Kono was upset _because of you_, what did you expect me to do? I couldn't leave her like that."

"You're staying here" Kono holds her arm. "Steve, do you have something to tell me about your stupid remark?"

He looks at her in irritation, trying to think about what he is going to say. He has a strong feeling she has no right to be upset with him, and he was just trying to do the right thing, but he has enough tactical experience to realize that focusing on this point will get him nowhere.

"I'm sorry?" he asks carefully.

"For what?" she asks levelly, after nodding slightly at what looks like a pretty good guess on his part. He never offers his apology that easily. He must be very tired.

"Well... I guess... no. Fuck it. I'm not sorry. I have nothing to be sorry for. I was only trying to make sure that peanut will have the first priority. Before Five-0, before me, before anything. I wanted to give you time, to enjoy our new family, and If you can't see that, then I have nothing else to say about it." he crosses his arms over his chest, and stands there, looking at her pointedly. Kai who is still following after his every move, sits beside him, and barks once, as if to emphasize his point.

There's quiet in the room, and the tension is practically palpable.

"OK..." Mary Ann says at last, slowly moving away from the bed. "It's quite obvious you are going to try to kill one another now, or have sex, or something. Either way, it will be highly inappropriate for me to stay in the same room with you two" she stands on the floor, and takes a hold of Kai's collar "Steve, you're definitely right, you just have to remember to share your decision making process with the rest of the universe from time to time, it will actually save you a lot of grief. Kono, he's a bit crazy and insensitive, but he means well, and you should listen to him more often because unfortunately, as annoying as it might be, he turns out to be right most of the time." She walks slowly towards the door, dragging the reluctant dog, who seems to be quite devoted to Steve for some reason "be good now, and please try to remember the walls here are very thin, and I can hear everything you do..."

She closes the door behind her, as they are still looking at each other in anger, from across the room.

"I don't want to give up my job" she tells him eventually "I love Five-0, and I love working with you."

"I don't want you to leave. Of course I don't. I just want you to be comfortable with everything, before you come back. We'll have to learn how to do it. When peanut will be here, our whole world will turn upside down."

"You are scared of the change" she says, realizing for the first time what is going on here. She sits on the bed, and crosses her legs under her.

"I'm not scared. I'm just... I need to prepare..." he sits beside her, and puts his hand on her thigh. "I mean, aren't _you_ scared?"

"No" she looks at him with a puzzled expression "I guess I just feel that it's going to be good."

"Yeah?" he smiles at her, shaking his head in astonishment.

"It's going to be perfect. You'll see. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. We have so many people to help us all over the island, and most importantly, we have each other. I can't wait to actually meet him, can you?"

"I guess I'm so used to be doing things on my own..."

"You're not alone anymore, baby. You have me to take care of you, now."

"Yeah?" he smiles at her "lucky me..."

"Yeah. And you have my mom, too..."

"This is actually the scariest thing you have ever said to me, babe..." he mumbles, but she can see he's relaxing now, as he puts his hand on her big baby bump.

She wraps her arms around his neck, and pulls him against her, as she lies slowly on the bed "now" she smiles lustfully at him, focusing her eyes on his delicious lips "if I promise to be very very quiet... will you do that thing with your mouth, that I like you to do?"

"You're never quiet" he tells her, smiling in amazement at the rapid change in her mood.

"I don't care. Just do it sailor!" she orders "she'd already _seen_ us fucking each other, how worse could it possibly be?"

"Yes Ma'am" he says, sliding his hands down her thighs "but I'm warning you, if you'll make the damn dog howl again, I'm done..."

()()()

She goes with Chin to knock on the suspect's door and see if he's home. She suspects Steve allows her to take this assignment because he thinks the guy had already skipped town, and there will be no one there. It's a safe assumption. The guy is a released convict, on parole, and they have a few testimonies that put him around the scene of the crime. He can't be that stupid.

As it happens, it's a safe assumption, only a completely false one, and the guy is in fact _that_ stupid. When Chin and Kono are at his doorstep, he opens it to them holding a bowl of cereals.

"Oka Long?" Chin asks politely "Five-0. We need you to come with us."

The guy is out of the back door the minute he says it. Chin is following him into the house and she is left to try and go around the house and catch the stupid man. She sees him jumping over the fence, and running in the alley, and she realizes she will not be able to out run him in her present state. She looks back at Chin who is getting out of the house, and it takes a fraction of a second until she realizes they might lose him, in this rate. She pulls her gun and shoots at the man's legs, a second before he disappears behind the corner. He falls on the ground, clutching his foot.

"You shot him" Chin says in mild shock as he watches the guy lying on the ground crying in pain.

"Yeah" she nods seriously. "Is there any way you can think of that we can keep it from Steve?"

()()()

"She's out of her mind!" she can hear Steve's shout from behind her office's walls, trying to restrain herself from looking up at his furious outburst.

"She was trying to keep a suspect from getting away" Chin explains patiently.

"By shooting a defenseless man in the back?"

"In the legs, actually."

"Does it matter?" he slams his fists on the smart table so hard, Danny and Chin worry he might break it.

"It was an impeccable shooting. She got him exactly where she was aiming at" Chin points out, unconvincingly.

"I have nothing against her shooting. She's a great marksman or rather markswoman, but... how the hell am I supposed to mention this to the governor?" he looks desperately at his two teammates. "I'm still trying to explain to him how she happened to be blowing half of Oahu a few weeks ago. There's a limit to the way I'm using her hormones as a valid excuse. I mean, he was taking pity on me until now, but I think he's losing his patience."

"Oh come on, Steve" Danny tells him "you've done worse in the past, and you had no hormones to justify your actions."

"Why are you taking her side?" he looks accusingly at his partner "you're _my_ partner. You're supposed to be supportive."

"I _am_ being supportive, Steven" Danny looks at him in annoyance "I'm _extremely_ supportive. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel now, when you are forced to work with a lunatic partner who attracts violence and gets people shot on every turn. I can give you some examples if you want, to prove to you that I know exactly how it is. I have one that involves a grenade, a suspect _accidentally_ falling into the sea, and one with people hanging over roofs..."

"Thanks Danny" he looks at him in irritation "that's enough _support_ for now..."

"Just hear her out" Chin advises him "she might surprise you."

He walks into her office, and knocks gently on the door.

"Do you think we should leave them alone?" Danny asks quietly when he sees Steve getting into the office and closing the door behind him.

"No way" Chin tells him "I've promised Malia to keep my eyes open in case they try to kill each other. She said as close as we get to the actual due date, there's more chance they'll lose it completely. If Mary Ann was not staying there with them, she said she would send me to sleep there myself."

()()()

"I think I should stay on desk duty from now on" she tells him when he steps in.

"What did you say?" he looks at her in mild shock.

"You've heard me. I can't run after suspects anymore, and I'm getting all of you in trouble."

"Well..." he scratches his head in confusion. He really didn't expect this.

"Don't tell me you don't think the same way" she stands up, crossing her arms over her chest, and looking at him questioningly.

"If you think it's for the best..." he says smiling his loop side smile at her.

"You're a cowered" she notifies him. "You simply have no courage to tell me that on your own."

"I'm not a cowered" he contradicts her "I have simply learned how to be careful around you."

"You're pathetic" she spits "you're not even making a proper challenge for me anymore."

"I'm awesome, and you're completely in love with me" he tells her as he walks out of the room.

"Yeah?" she shouts after him "I can't see how it has anything to do with it, really..."

()()()

She has her mother, her father her brothers, her aunts and Mary Ann at home with her, when he gets there, after his somewhat charged meeting with the governor. When he opens the door, there is so much commotion there, he can hardly understand what they're all doing. Her father and brothers are installing the crib and dresser in the nursery, at least that's what he hopes they are doing, when he hears the noise of hammering and shouting coming from upstairs, as they all try to work together. He can't really determine if it's a good sign or not, after all, the shouting and arguing in the Kalakaua clan is the constant soundtrack to everything they do. Her mother and aunts are covering the kitchen area and the living room with flowers and ornaments and shells. Yes, he thinks it's shells, and he has no idea what they're doing because they are too, all talking at the same time and moving things around on the floor with Kono standing in the middle of the whole mess. Nobody is looking at him when he enters, because with all of them talking at the same time, nobody actually hears him when he says hello. Except Kai that is. The dog notices him immediately, and runs happily towards him holding his combat boot in his mouth, wagging his tail with enthusiasm.

"What the fuck is so fascinating about my shoes?" he asks Kai, when he tries to release the half eaten boot from his mouth "can't you eat one of Kono's for once in your life? _she_ actually deserves it..."

The dog, who simply has no idea how risky it is, only licks his face in response.

()()()

He thinks for a second about entering the living room, but chooses wisely to avoid the excessive amount of Hawaiian women there, and climbs up the stairs to see what is happening in the nursery. He sees Kono's father making the last adjustments to the beautiful crib he had built, and the rest of the brothers trying to move the big and heavy dresser against the wall.

"It looks great" he tells Kono's father, obviously impressed "and the dresser too, I can't believe you did all this by yourself."

"I'm glad you like it" Kono's father tells him, patting his shoulder "Kapali actually did all the painting. He's really good at it, that kid."

"Really?" Steve looks at the impeccable finishing of the furniture. "Actually, where is Kapali?" he looks around the room seeing only four of the five brothers looking back at him questioningly for a few moments. "I'll kill him!" he shouts and runs towards Mary Ann's room, bursting in there with fury.

"Get up! Both of you. Now!" he shouts at the young couple who lies on the bed, stops talking and looks at him in apprehension "there were enough unplanned pregnancies in this family for the next decade."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **Thank you all for reading and following. Special thanks to the people who take the time to review and let me know what they think. I can't respond to everyone individually, so I hope to take the opportunity here to convey my gratitude, and to tell you how happy I am to read everything you write. I really pay attention to your ideas and point of views.

Lydia - my darling, there is simply no technical way to answer you. Your reviews are the best. Make me so very happy, and make me laugh all the time. You are a pure joy. Thank you for all your kind words and encouragement.

As always, please tell me what you think.

R.

* * *

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asks, looking at his sister with a pained expression.

They are standing in the middle of Mary Ann's room. Well, Steve is in the middle of Mary Ann's room, the accused couple are made to stand against the wall, separated by the big window in the middle. He looks at the both of them as he paces back and forth in the small room, sending them murderous looks from time to time. As always, Kai is following his every move. The rest of the Kalakauas are crowding the doorway, following with curiosity after the course of the interrogation.

"Of course I am not trying to kill you" she rolls her eyes at him "You are my brother, I love you. Besides, I'm much too scared of Kono to actually try and hurt you..." There's a quiet hum of agreement from the audience at the door.

"Fine. Then how would you call _me_ finding _you in bed_ with a guy, if not _trying to kill me_?" he looks accusingly at her.

"We didn't do anything" she tells him for the hundredth time."We were just _talking_."

"On the bed?" he asks standing in front of the two of them.

"Well..." she crosses her arms, looking defiantly back at him "there weren't any chairs in the entire house, because half the female population of the island is downstairs doing some kind of a ceremony which involves rearranging all the furniture." he looks around him, searching for chairs but she's right, there aren't any chairs in the room.

"I don't believe you" he says looking at the both of them in suspicion "you looked much too cozy there, together."

"Come on, Steve" Mary Ann smiles enticingly at him "we're all family..."

"Family? seriously? this is where you're taking this?"

"Well" she's getting angry again "you are _my_ family, and Kono is _your_ family, and Kapali is _Kono's_ family, so that makes Kapali _my_ family. Kono said, very clearly, from the beginning , her family is my family, and correct me if I'm wrong here, but I was under the impression that we tend to do _everything_ Kono says in this house..." there's another vocal agreement coming from the group of young men at the door, when she says it.

"He was touching your hair. I distinctly remember seeing him touching your hair." he stands in front of Kapali, who looks a bit frightened by the sudden attention he gets from his sister's boyfriend. "You think I was never in your age? you think I don't know what went through your mind? what do you think you're doing , touching a young girl's hair on her bed like that? "

"A young girl?" Kapali looks at him with surprise "she's two years older than me..."

"You are overreacting, Steve" Mary Ann notifies him from the other side of the room, "Kapali is a good guy. He doesn't even believe in sex before marriage..."

"I don't?" he looks at her in surprise "I mean, I don't. Naturally" he says when Steve steps even closer to him "this is how we were all raised actually. No sex before marriage. Well... all except Kono... I guess..." Steve only cocks his eyebrow at this "which is a good thing, really" Kapali adds quickly, realizing what he just said "because we are all extremely happy that she is having a kid. _Your_ Kid... even if it _was_ accidental...which is fine, really. Could have actually happened to anyone..."

"I think we'll burry him next to kupuna Kane, near the ocean" he hears Makaio say to the other guys.

"Steve, we were just talking..." Mary Ann says again from her place near the wall.

"OK, then. So what were you talking about?" he asks, stepping forward and standing so close to Kapali, he can feel the young man's labored breathing as he tries to stay calm.

"If you must know" Mary Ann says from behind him "we were talking about Kapali's plans for the future. He is pondering if to start medical school immediately, now that he has a scholarship to Stanford, or join the Navy first."

"You're thinking about joining the Navy?" Steve looks at him with astonishment "why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"I am?" Kapali looks at Mary Ann, who stands behind Steve's shoulder, with a questioning look, he can see that she's rolling her eyes at him in exasperation. "yes, I am. I wanted to tell you, I just... forgot..."

"You're not joining the Navy" Nohoki shouts from the door "mom will never let you give up medical school, she'll kill you first and feed you to the sharks." Then all hell breaks loose, and the entire family is speaking simultaneously again, and Steve finds himself joining the commotion, explaining why joining the Navy is the best thing that Kapali could actually do with his life. Unfortunately, when he turns around to talk to Kapali about it, he and Mary Ann are nowhere to be found, and the four remaining brothers are preventing him from going after them, and murder the kid with his bare hands.

()()()

"She is not going to sleep with anyone. Ever." Kono promises him later, when he sits in the living room looking at the big mess her family left there.

"I was just talking to him, he's a great guy" Mary shouts from the kitchen where she tries to put all the dishes back in the cupboards.

"Well, he is" Kono says when he looks at her with his mouth opened, trying to argue "you really like him, too."

"Of course I do, but she's my sister..." he says quietly, absentmindedly patting Kai's head.

"He also has a great body..." Mary shouts from the other room.

"She doesn't mean it" Kono tells him quickly when he looks at her with a pained expression. "Even though, she could do worse, you have to admit it." she strokes his hair gently.

"He's not really thinking about joining the Navy, is he?" Steve says, sighing in resignation.

"I don't think so, sweetie" she says smiling tenderly "but maybe if you'll scare him enough... I would try Akela, though. I think, from the five of them he'll probably be your best shot."

"Yeah..." he says thoughtfully "you're right. He's still young, but it's actually the perfect time to start training." Steve looks all enthusiastic again.

"Sure" she says reassuringly "you should talk to him about it. Maybe talk to Kale too. They are twins, they will make a great training team."

"I can take them to the base and have them trained there."

"Sounds good, babe" she smiles "just... do me a favor, ok?"

"What?"

"If mom asks, it was your idea, not mine..."

()()()

Mary Ann is off to L.A. for a couple of weeks, promising to come back when the baby is born. He knows that she has to work, and that some of her flights are not even going through the island, but he has a strong suspicion that her decision to put some distance between them is related to the fact that he spends the time following her around, and keeping her away from Kono's family. He is not entirely sure she actually has something going on with Kapali, he has the distinct feeling that she's only trying to mess with his head, but he keeps his eyes open, just in case. After she leaves, they are settling back into their old routine, in their home, with their work and with their slightly deranged dog.

It feels good to be at work, in the familiar controlled environment, he created there. He feels so much better, now that she asked to be assigned to desk duty, and also, promised not to shoot anyone anymore. He is so grateful, he kisses her long and hard, before they get out of the car to enter the building. They have a new case, and they're working their way through the new evidences. It's nice. When they come up with a suspect's name, and they have to go to look for him in his hiding place, the three guys go, and Kono stays behind to complete the data collection and help with the assessment of the information. He looks at her with trepidation, when he tells her that they are all off, and she watches how they all wear their Kevlar vests, preparing to leave. She only smiles, and says good luck, it's really much better than what he was expecting. Only, when they get out of the cars, at the scene, and as they start their approach, he looks behind his left shoulder, to where she's supposed to be, like always, and sees a SWAT team operative in her place. It feels a little weird, and it feels exposed. He realizes for the first time, that after her maternity leave, she has no other place to go back to, except to her usual place right by his side.

()()()

She can hear them getting back to the office from the other side of the hall, and she can practically feel Danny's resentment coming from him in waves. She stands next to the smart table, trying to conceal the traces of Malasada she was stuffing herself with in the last half an hour, waiting to hear what her short tempered boyfriend had done now.

"He chased a guy to the roof" Danny tells her when they stop next to the computer, pointing his head towards Steve.

"So?" she asks in confusion, there's obviously nothing remarkable about that.

"Then the guy hit him on the head with a crowbar, and he fell from the roof, hanging on the gutter with one hand."

"Well, good instincts babe." Kono says, smiling towards Steve with obvious pride.

"Then, he circled the house, hanging on the gutter, like a fucking chameleon, jumped him from the other side, and they both fell about 32 feet into the bushes, only to roll down a hill for 100 feet more. We found them in the bottom of the slope, half concussed and bleeding. We couldn't book the guy because both of his shoulders were dislocated, and the cuffs wouldn't fit."

"Right..." Kono says looking at Steve, realizing for the first time he is all covered with dust and fresh bruises.

"At least Steve is fine" she smiles encouragingly towards Danny. Steve only shrugs, sitting on one of the chairs, crossing his legs and arms. He'd actually heard all this on the long way back. Twice.

"_Now_ he's fine" Danny shouts in indignation "_he_ dislocated his shoulder too. He relocated it by crashing himself into a dumpster in the middle of the fucking street. After that, he refused to go to the hospital for further evaluation."

"He looks perfectly fine..." Kono dismisses "why would he need a medical evaluation?"

"I thought about a psychiatric one, actually..." Danny grumbles when she only shrugs and goes to her office to bring some disinfectant she keeps specifically for occasions like this one.

"You know, Steve..." Danny tells him when he looks at Kono wobbling slowly towards her office "I always thought Kono was the rational, brainy one in your little asylum. But I guess it's the both of you that are just batshit crazy."

Steve only sends him a dirty look from behind his half closed eyelashes.

"It's fine. Really" Danny tells him, when he gets no reaction "both Chin and I have child protective services on speed dial, just in case."

Steve sends a questioning look towards Chin, who normally tries to avoid this kind of discussions.

"We actually do" he tells him reluctantly, before he leaves to go to his office.

Maybe she could only be on maternity leave for a day or two. They can bring little peanut and keep him here on the smart table... He's only saying.

()()()

She wakes up in the middle of the night, and sends her hand towards Steve's side of the bed, but it's empty. When she sits up and looks around her, there's a soft light coming from the other side of the hall. She walks slowly towards the nursery to find him sitting inside the room on the floor, leaning against the wall looking out through the window. She wants to ask him what he's doing there, and why he's out of bed, in the middle of the night, but he looks so peaceful and calm, she just looks at him from the dark hall, without making a sound. She notices that he holds something in his hand. When she looks carefully, she realizes it's his dog tags from his SEALs gear. He's not alone in there, because Kai is sitting next to him on the floor, with his head buried in Steve's lap, and she feels like she has no place to be there, between the two of them. She leaves after a few minutes, letting him sit there and think, about whatever it is that he's thinking about. The only sound that is heard in the silent house, is the sound of his hand playing with the ball chain of his dog tags.

She goes back to their room, and gets back to bed, and waits for him to come back, which he does after almost half an hour. When he slides quietly into the bed, he puts his arm around her, caressing her big belly as he breathe silently into her hair. They sleep until morning, and when she's up he's already out in the ocean, swimming. When she goes downstairs, she takes a look in the nursery, and sees the dog tags hanging on the crib.

()()()

"You want a list? are you fucking kidding me?"

"Yes. A list. That's all I need. I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it."

"There is no such list, Steve. You're insane."

"I know there isn't. Trust me, I've looked. I need you to make me one."

"I can't make you a list, you're out of your mind."

"Why not? don't you want me to be a good dad?"

"I do. I do want you to be a good dad. Believe me, I'm praying for it every day. As I don't actually believe in god, and practically have no idea how to pray, that should give you an idea of how desperate I am for you to succeed in this unavoidable fatherhood."

"So why can't you make me a list? I only need the basic rules."

"Because _there are no_ rules, that's why. You'll just have to trust your instincts, and hope for the best." Danny moves his hands around him, trying to make his point.

"My instincts? seriously?"

"Yes. Your instincts. You're best judgment, you'll be fine..." suddenly the conviction in Danny's voice disappears.

"The kid is doomed, isn't he?" Steve shakes his head, looking pointedly at his partner.

"Not necessarily." Danny says carefully, rubbing his chin "look Steve, the first few months are easy. Basically all he does is sleep, eat and poop. Your main objective there is just to keep him alive, and try not to strangle him when his crying wakes you up thirteen times a night."

"Right..."

"Kono will be doing all the work anyway. The main challenge for you will be to realize that you're not the only man in her life anymore. Half the time it would seem like she loves him more than she loves you."

"I'm sure, that this will not be the case..." Steve grins his arrogant grin.

"Oh really, Casanova? because let me tell you, he will have at least three times the access to her breast than you would."

"I think you're underestimating how attractive I am."

"I'm really not. I'm ready to bet that the next time you two will have sex will be around the time he'd learnt how to walk."

"You're not serious" Steve smiles at him "are you?" he looks at him with sudden alarm.

"I'm serious as a heart a attack, and the worst thing that you can possibly do is blame the baby for all of this. Trust me. Unless you have a really good relationship with your sofa."

"No" Steve says decisively "we'll be fine. Kono loves me..."

"Of course she does, Steven. _Now_... but when she'll be home alone with the baby, sleep deprived, food deprived, with no time to go to the fucking bathroom, and the first adult she can actually talk to and get a mildly coherent response from, will be you, entering the house with your arrogant smile... believe me... she'll put the baby in your arms, and start screaming the minute you step in. Sex? it will be a miracle if she'll let you breathe..."

"You're talking bullshit..." Steve whispers, looking all shaken. "It's supposed to be the best experience you have in your life. Everybody tells me how fucking lucky I am..."

"I'm telling you the truth, babe. It's the secret nobody puts in the books. When you find out about it, you're already a prisoner in your own home, and have to pretend that you're happy, to the rest of the world."

"And the women... they know it too? because how would a rational woman agree to..."

"The women know. Trust me." Danny nods at him, as he cuts him in the middle of his thought.

"So why would they...?"

"Why?" Danny glares at him, and he can see the punch line written all over his face "because they are all just a bunch of manipulative, hormone crazed, monsters..."

There's a deep charged silence after Danny's last declaration. They both look at the road, stretching before them. "Right..." Steve says quietly after a while. "So how _is_ Rachel, anyway?"

()()()

She sees them getting into HQ, and she can see that the only thing that keeps them from killing each other is sheer politeness. Steve stands in front of the smart table and shoots his instructions to the rest of the team with a severe tone, and sends his partner threatening glares whenever he tries to speak. Danny speaks. Obviously. Because he has no idea how or when to shut up. When they finish the debriefing and Chin and Danny are off to the lab, she counts to ten, and waits for his outburst.

She gets up to six, when he's barging out of his office, and crosses his arms on his chest, pacing around the room, with an aggressive attitude. She doesn't have to wait for long, before he spills everything.

"Danny says, you'll be miserable at home, and tired, and hungry and frustrated the whole time."

"Of course I wouldn't." she tells him.

"He said you'll get it out on me the minute I'd step in the house, and we'll fight _all_ the time."

"We fight all the time, right now. What difference will it make, really?" she tries to smile at him, but he's not in the mood.

"I'm serious, Kono. You'll be trapped in the house, after you got used to being so active and running around all the time."

"Why should I stop being active?" she looks at him with surprise. "He'll be really small, I can take him anywhere, probably just stick him in my pocket, or something. I won't have to carry anything with me, because I'll have all his food on me, anyway " she winks.

"You'll take him surfing?" he looks at her dubiously.

"Yes. And running. He'll probably love it anyway, he's our son, after all..."

"Can you do this with a baby?"

"My mom did... and she raised six children."

"Oh..." he looks at her thoughtfully.

"Look baby, if we want him to have a sane mother, he'll have to join me in this, and be a good boy. It isn't such a big deal. People have been raising children on this island for centuries..."

"Ok" he says. But he looks like he has something else on his mind.

"Anything else, babe?"

"Danny says, you wouldn't want... to have sex... "

"With you?" she looks incredulously at him "I always want to have sex with you. I want to have sex with you, even when... I don't know, even when someone just happens to mention your name... I want to have sex with you when you stand here right now, like a confused crazy person and think that I don't..."

"Yeah?" he smiles sheepishly at her "but after the baby..."

"I would still like to have sex with you" she says laughing "besides, you're the alpha male in our house, I have to have sex with you."

"The alpha male, really?" he smiles mischievously, as he steps closer to her.

"Yes..." she whispers when he holds her chin and hovers with his mouth above hers, his other hand moves from her neck to her breasts "why do you think Kai is following you all over the place?"

"Right" he smiles, as he completes his descent on her lips. When he finishes to kiss her he asks "so you want to have sex right now?"

"Sure" she whispers back "and if you want, we can have it on Danny's desk, just to prove our point..."

()()()

Later, she gets into Danny's office and closes the door behind her. She holds a stapler behind her back. When he raises his eyes towards her, she holds him by his tie, and staples it to the desk.

"You think very carefully before you talk to Steve about sex and babies, when I'm not present. Got that?"

"Leave me alone, you crazy woman" he shouts "I was only telling him the truth."

"He is much too fragile and sensitive to be hearing the truth, at this point" she hisses in Danny's ear.

"Fragile and sensitive, are you fucking kidding me?"

"Danny..."

"OK, OK. He knows that I'm just talking. Becoming a father is the most wonderful thing that have ever happened to me."

"That's the spirit." She stands up, shaking her hair "You'd better stick to this story from now on. Remember, after all, I'm a manipulative hormone crazed monster..."

()()()

It's two weeks later when they get a call from HPD about a hostage situation that is developing in an office building downtown. One of the workers who got fired is holding the manager at gun point in one of the conference rooms. It's when Steve and Danny are off to the scene, and Chin and Kono are trying to get as much information they can of the firm and the employees, that things starting to move quite rapidly. Chin is calling her to come and see what he found, because it looks like they have some information about the suspect and the gun he is using, but she doesn't answer after he calls her twice. When he goes to her office, he sees her leaning against her desk, with one hand on her back, and the other holding the edge of the chair.

"What are you doing?" he asks her curiously. But then he sees how pale she is, and notices the look of surprise she has on her face. "Oh shit cuz..."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **Thank you all for reading, following, favoring and reviewing this fic. You keep me motivated and happy every time.

I couldn't believe it, this chapter was supposed to be the highlight of the whole fic, and I had to write it in what felt like the busiest week at work, ever. How inconsiderate... anyway, I couldn't _not write_ it (even though, it took me longer than usual, I'm sorry about that). I made special efforts to write it despite of all the deadlines I had, well... sleeping is for sissies anyway...

I know we have all been waiting to this installment. I hope it will live up to your expectations. I have tried to make it a good representation of the whole fic. (I am very anxious to know if I was able to do it...)

Please please tell me what you think, because it was a very difficult chapter to write.

Thanks,

R.

* * *

**Last time on Calculated Risk...**

It's two weeks later when they get a call from HPD about a hostage situation that is developing in an office building downtown. One of the workers who was fired is holding the manager at gun point in one of the conference rooms. It's when Steve and Danny are off to the scene, and Chin and Kono are trying to get as much information they can on the firm and the employees, that things start to move quite rapidly. Chin is calling her to come and see what he found, because it looks like they have some information about the suspect and the gun he is using, but she doesn't answer after he calls her twice. When he goes to her office, he sees her leaning against her desk, with one hand on her back, and the other holding the edge of the chair.

"What are you doing?" he asks her curiously. But then, he sees how pale she is, and notices the look of surprise she has on her face. "Oh shit cuz..."

()()()

"Chin..." she looks at him with a frightened look on her face.

"What happened? is it the baby?" he rushes towards her and holds her shoulder, as she breathes deeply.

"I don't know..." she looks at him with irritation "how the hell should I know? it's not like I have ever done this before."

"Can you take a guess...?" he tries to keep his voice calm and leveled, despite his first instinct to shake the hell out of her. Oh yes, and kill Steve for not being here. Brutally.

"It may possibly feel like contractions" she grumbles in resignation "but..." she looks at him in the eyes, in a way he really doesn't like. He tries not to be surprised, and emotional about how similar she looks to when she was a girl. Her voice is hoarse and she looks pale and exhausted "...I don't want to do it" she whispers.

"What do you mean, you don't want t... I don't think you have a choice here" he tries to smile gently, but he can't avoid looking at her like she's a little bit crazy. Honestly, she can't really blame him.

"Nope. Not doing it" she notifies him of her decision in an outburst of energy, as she tries to push him away, and stand back on her feet. Where the fuck _is_ Steve? _he_ is the one who's supposed to handle this absurd situation with her. He got rid of this responsibility the minute the guy knocked her up.

"Cuz, come on" he coaxes "you're having the baby...we should probably..."

"Sorry, I can't. I'm not ready." she tells him with resolve, walking slowly towards the main room, not even bothering to look back "besides, we are in the middle of a case" she adds from behind her back, "Steve and Danny needs us."

"Kono... I'm calling Steve." He calls after her, reaching for his phone.

"I've tried, he doesn't answer..." the fucking bastard "...ooohhh..." she breathes suddenly, taking a hold of the edge of the smart table.

"I'm calling Malia, then" he tells her, dialing the number without taking his eyes off of her.

"No, Chin..."

"It's either Malia, or your mother. You can choose."

It takes her a few milliseconds to think this through. "Tell Malia, I'm not going to the hospital without Steve."

()()()

Disappointingly, Malia is calmer than Chin would have hoped. He swears, these two are going to be the death of him. When she gives the OK for Kono to stay at HQ for as long as her contractions are not completely regular or coming in intervals of less than four minutes, he has no other way but to consider it as a deliberate betrayal on her part. Steve and Danny are maybe dealing with a deranged kidnapper, but he has to stay in HQ and see his cousin suffers repeated contractions, until his darling wife will be _impressed_ enough. He can't tell for sure, but someone is going to pay for this, at the end of the day. He programs the computer system to time the contractions, and make a point to put the timer on the big screen above them, just to make his point. Unfortunately Kono is less bothered by this big and loud timer, than he is.

()()()

...

()()()

They get to the scene, and find HPD cars surrounding the entire building, as well as a SWAT team getting ready to storm the place. They find the chief of police and join the briefing, realizing there is one kidnapper, standing deep inside a big conference room, holding the manager of the firm at gun point. The room has that high tech, sophisticated and decorative transparent walls, so the guy can spot someone getting close from each side of the corridor. Two attempts to breach, failed when the guy shot a cop and a secretary that was hiding there, wounding them quite badly. He demands money and compensations from the company, and requests them to be delivered to a bank account in the Caymans. He threatens to kill the manager within one hour, if his demands are not met. When Steve and Danny get there, the governor and the head of the firm are seriously considering to comply with his demands.

()()()

The chief of police estimates that another breach will be redundant, but there's a pressure from upstairs to make another attempt, to confirm the validity of giving in to the guy's demands.

"There's another option." Steve says at the end of the briefing, watching the building, with a glint in his eyes.

"He's lying" Danny says to the chief of police, as he pulls Steve hurriedly away from there "he has no other option. Trust me, when he gets that face, it means that he has some kind of a crazy idea, running around in his fucking mind. I call it his _suicidal Rambo face_. We should ignore it, really."

They stand a few feet from the group of HPD officials, and all the seniors watch them with curious looks. It really is embarrassing, well for the HPD officials anyway, Steve and Danny are quite used to it by now.

"I _do_ have an idea. You know I do" Steve tells him, looking back at the building.

"Of course I know you have an idea, why do you think I took you away from there?"

"Danny, I have a way to solve this thing without any casualties" Steve tries to explain "you do realize this is our job, right? this is what we're supposed to do."

"I agree completely, Steven" Danny tries to imitate the quiet and calm tone of his partner. It's so uncharacteristic to their usual discussions, it feels like both of them are going to explode at any minute.

"So... let's go back" Steve makes a small movement towards the HPD seniors.

"Not so fast, Rambo." Danny holds his arm again "would you mind sharing your great idea with me first?"

"Sure" Steve bows his head, exhaling deeply. He really feels he should be congratulated for not shooting Danny in front of everybody there. "We can't get from the inside, he'll see us immediately."

"True..."

"He's deep inside the room, so the snipers can't see him."

"I'm not going to like it, am I?" Danny scratches his face tiredly.

"We need to approach from the window."

"I blame myself, honestly." Danny tells him dryly "I should have stopped you more than a year ago. When you were in jail, for example, that was actually a great opportunity."

"Listen Danny" Steve ignores his partner's insults "we'll keep him occupied with talking to HPD, I'll breach from the window, standing within a close range shooting option. It's done in two minutes." Steve looks expectedly at his partner. He has that excited look he gets, when he thinks about a mission. You can practically feel the adrenalin rush starts building inside him.

"It sounds really good" Danny tells him calmly. "would you mind answering a few questions about this elaborated and well thought off plan of yours?"

"Go ahead" Steve tries to be gracious, smiling smugly at him.

"You do realize the window is on the fourth floor, right?"

"Yes, Daniel" Steve reassures him "I can count."

"Well... are you a wizard?"

"What? no, I'm not a wizard.. .wha..."

"Do you have wings?"

"Danny..."

"Answer the fucking question, Steve."

"No Daniel, I do not have wings."

"I know I'm a _minority_ here, but as far as _I_ can tell, you are not Superman, or Harry potter, or a fucking fairy, so flying is out of the question, too."

"I'll get out of the second window, and walk along the edge of the wall until I get to the conference room window. I'll be able to point a gun at him, and will be covered by the wall. If he won't give up, I'll shoot him."

"I don't like it." Danny tells him decisively.

"Don't worry, Danno" Steve claps him reassuringly on the back, and smiles arrogantly at him "I've done this before." he starts walking back towards the HPD chief, leaving his partner with his mouth open.

"I don't think it makes as good a resume as you might think..." he shouts after him.

()()()

Steve can be very persuasive if he wishes to. He'll give him that. In five minutes he gives the HPD chief, the SWAT team leader, and the other officers the essentials of his idea, and has them all hooked to his crazy notion, that this stupid, and irresponsible act of lunacy will actually work. The SWAT team leader is still recovering from the last encounter he had with the McGarrett-Kalakaua asylum, so it's no wonder he goes along with it. Danny sends the guy a dirty look when he tells Steve he's going to clear the access to the neighboring room, and it's the only reason he offers Steve to be tied to a long safety cable, just in case.

()()()

It's way too familiar, to stand next to Steve as he changes his clothes next to the car, and puts his Kevlar on. He gives Danny his cell phone, and checks his gun one more time before he makes his way towards the building.

When Steve's phone rings, and Kono's number appears on the screen, he pushes the silence button immediately. There's no way he would be able to explain this to her.

()()()

...

()()()

It's about a half an hour later, when she stops talking in the middle of a sentence, and grabs the edge of the smart table, breathing heavily.

"That's it" Chin tells her, looking at the screen "four minutes. We're going to the hospital."

"No..." she whispers, trying to brace herself "I'm not going without Steve..."

"I'll try him again, then. Because we are going, accept it." Chin pulls his cell phone and dials Steve's number "No answer. I'll try Danny, too."

()()()

"_Disasters are us_, how can I help you?" he answers on the first ring.

"Where's Steve?" Chin asks without waiting.

"Steve? that's a really good question, my friend. Steve is hanging 40 feet above the ground at the moment, trying to shoot a suspect through a window. No use blaming me, I've tried to shake him out of it, but apparently some things are not humanly possible."

"He's what?"

"He's hanging on the wall on the fourth floor, trying to ambush the kidnapper. I thought I made it quite clear."

"How long will it take?" Chin is looking anxiously at his cousin, who is holding her stomach and curses quietly.

"He said two minutes. What's wrong?" Danny feels like something is not right, suddenly.

"Kono is having the baby. We were really hoping he could join us in here..." Chin realizes it's not going to happen any time soon, so he grabs his keys, and pulls Kono gently by the arm, as they start to make their way to the door.

"Oh shit..." he can hear Danny's gasp from the other side.

"I think my water just broke..." Kono says as they enter the elevator.

()()()

...

()()()

Steve is walking slowly on the edge of the wall. Danny looks up at him with his eyes wide, and his phone pressed against his ear. There's a moment there when he almost loses his grip and his legs are dangling in the air, as he fights to hold himself solely by his strong arms. He makes it, just barely, and exhales in relief. It's much more narrow than he had estimated. The dust makes it slippery, too. He has ten more feet to go like this, until he reaches the conference room's window.

()()()

They sit in the van and Chin puts the phone on speaker, and turns the siren on. Kono is in pain, and she's all sticky and scared, and she's so mad at Steve, it could actually get dangerous.

"He's doing what?" She shouts in alarm, her voice sends shivers down Chin's and Danny's spines.

"Walking on the edge of the wall... but he's already half way there..." Danny tries to explain.

"Half way towards a lunatic with a gun, who can shoot him the minute he sees him?"

"I'm sure there's another way to look at it..." Danny says unconvincingly.

"I'm having his baby, and he's playing Rambo over there?" Kono shrieks in fury "why the hell didn't you stop him?"

"What do you mean why didn't I..." Danny protests.

"Hey Brah, she's having a baby, chose your words wisely" Chin advises as he's pushing harder on the accelerator.

"Listen to me Daniel Williams" Kono hisses into the phone "I am having a baby now. I have pain, I have sticky stuff all over my legs, and my baby's father is nowhere in the vicinity. You'll get him to the fucking hospital dead or alive, it's really doesn't matter, just bring him there before the baby is born. Did you get that?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Danny whispers before she hangs up.

()()()

He looks up again, watching his partner getting to the conference room, finally. He hears him shouting to the guy to put down his weapon, and the guy answers back, but Danny can't really make out his words. There's a few seconds of tension, and everybody waits, than the guy's start shooting, and Steve hides next to the window, before he slides unexpectedly, in front of it, hanging on one arm, and shoots two bullets inside. There's a sudden quiet, and Steve doesn't move. Finally he can see a SWAT team operative looking out from the room Steve was shooting into, indicating that it's all clear.

He can see the smug smile Steve has on his face even from his distant position near the HPD cars. He takes the loudspeaker from one of the vehicles and presses the 'on' button.

"Hey Spiderman" he shouts, and everyone looks back at him, including Steve who is still hanging on the wall, "nice job, babe", and there's the sound of clapping and cheering from the police officers around him, when he says it, "now, if you're not too busy, your girlfriend, I'm hearing, is having your baby now, she would like you to join her."

Apparently, it's all it takes to erase the smug bastard's smile. He looks back at Danny, with a mortified expression. Unfortunately it also causes him to lose his grip on the wall, and he falls down like a rock. The SWAT team's safety cable holds him back when he reaches the level of the second floor, but he is crashed against the wall, and almost faints from the pain caused by the pull on his shoulders. It's a small consolation for the events of the day, Danny feels. A _very_ small consolation.

()()()

...

()()()

They get to the emergency department and Malia is waiting for them at the door.

"You're having the baby" she smiles happily as she embraces Kono tightly against her. "Don't be scared, you'll be fine, and when it's over, you'll be so happy, you wouldn't even remember the pain. I promise." she whispers in her ear.

"Steve is not here" she tells Malia with a furious look, as they put her on a wheel chair and bring her into the delivery room.

"I'll be with you until he comes" Malia promises "or we can get your mother..."

"He doesn't deserve me" she tells her as they help her to remove her clothes and put her in the bed "I should let my mom know he's not here. They would search for his body in the dumpsters of Honolulu for months."

"Let's forget about your mother for now, then..." Malia suggests quietly.

When the nurse comes to put an IV line in, and to take her vital signs, she has another contraction, and it's getting even less pleasant.

"I want something for the pain" Kono tells her, clenching her teeth together, trying not to shout with agony. These stupid contractions are getting stronger each time.

"I'll have to check if it's not too late, first" the nurse smiles towards her "let me take a look." She puts on a glove, and puts her hand under Kono's gown. "I'm sorry ma'am. You are almost fully dilated by now, it's too late for pain medications."

The sweet nurse's apology is drowned by another contraction, and Kono holds on to the nurse's shirt forcing her face close to her own "get me some fucking pain medications, or I'll kill you" she hisses.

"I'll get the doctor..." the nurse whispers shaking with fear, as she makes her escape out of the room.

"You know, darling" Malia says when the contraction is over, and she strokes the sweaty strands of hair away from her face "I still need to work in this place tomorrow, please try not to threaten innocent nurses, as much as you possibly can..."

"I'm sorry" Kono says, blushing "I don't know what came over me. It's really not her fault."

"Don't worry sweetie, she's probably used to it by now. This is one of the reasons I chose not to be an obstetrician. Couldn't handle all the crazy women."

"I guess most women have their husbands near them to keep them calm and rational..." Kono spits in resentment.

"No... not really" Malia says thoughtfully "the husbands are usually even more freaked out, completely useless and on the verge of fainting at eavery moment. They actually make everything much more difficult..."

There's another contraction when a young male doctor is coming into the room, and looks at her chart.

"Ms. Kalakaua? I'm Doctor Macky, and how are you today?"

"Who the hell are you? you're not my doctor. Where's Doctor Lee?" Kono looks at him still breathless from the pain.

"Doctor Lee is in the middle of another delivery, she will be here soon. The nurse said, you were asking for pain medications." he turns to put on gloves and reaches for her gown again.

"What are you doing? get away from me." she closes her legs and looks at him with a murderous look.

"I thought you wanted to..." he stumbles on his words when he sees that dangerous glint in her eyes.

"You're a guy." She reminds him.

"I'm a doctor" he smiles brightly "let me assure you, I am completely equipped to handle these situations."

"Oh really?" she crosses her arms on her chest, raising her eyebrow at him "have you ever tried to push a watermelon through your genitalia?"

"No... not really" he blushes "can't say that I have."

"Then we both agree, you are hardly equipped to handle this situation. I'll be waiting for Dr. Lee if you don't mind." The look in her eyes probably has enough persuasion in it, because it looks like he can't get out of the room, quick enough.

"I guess I should re-write my resume for tomorrow, just in case" Malia sighs, holding Kono's hand gently.

()()()

...

()()()

"You're driving too slow. I told you to let me drive" Steve holds the dashboard and sends Danny murderous looks.

"You are emotionally unstable, definitely not in the right condition to drive."

"I am perfectly calm and emotionally stable, Danny. At least, if I was driving, we would have already been there."

"If I'd have let you drive, we were probably be in the morgue by now. Relax, we'll get there in time."

"I hope so..." Steve looks at his watch, and curses under his breath.

It took them fifteen minutes to untangle him from the rope, and to make sure he didn't break his neck. He had to argue with the HPD chief to let him go without completing the debriefing of the shooting, but he managed to do it at the end. He had to leave his gun behind though, and let them start the paperwork without him, and by the description Danny gave him of Kono's state of mind, he's not so sure he actually made the right choice. She's in a hospital bed, and in pain, but she can still hurt him. If he'd miss the birth of his own son though, she wouldn't have to, he'll probably do it himself.

"Don't worry, Steve. She's not alone, she has Chin and probably Malia there with her."

"I know, I know..." he mumbles "it's not the same though, is it?"

"Here, I can see the hospital. We're there in two minutes..."

Danny stops the car, with the wheels screeching, in front of the emergency department's entrance, and Steve shoots out of the car, before it even comes to a final stop.

"Hey, Navy SEAL!" Danny shouts from inside the car, smiling towards his friend as he looks back in alarm "good luck, babe..."

"Thanks, Danno" he smiles back before he runs into the building.

()()()

...

()()()

Dr. Lee is there, eventually. She enters the room with her calm and familiar manner. Kono almost bursts into tears, seeing her face. She is right in control, examining her and reassuring her. Kono doesn't even mind she is too, in agreement that there's no time for pain medications anymore.

"Where is Steve?" she asks as she sits in the chair at Kono's feet. "Will he be joining us, soon?"

"He'd better" Kono mumbles in resentment "I told his partner to get him here dead or alive, but it was probably a mistake. I should have insisted on him being alive, so I could kill him with my own hands."

"I'm sure he'll be here soon" Dr. Lee smiles reassuringly "he looked like a very dedicated man, when I saw him during follow ups."

"He is" Kono says in agreement "it's just that the causes he's dedicated too, are all messed up sometimes."

"Well, Kono" Dr. Lee, tells her as she looks at her and smiles "we're having the baby now. So, we should probably start working."

()()()

He stands at the door of the delivery room, and tries to read the signs to see where to go, when he sees Chin running towards him with relief.

"Straight in this corridor, last door on the left." he shouts as he's pushing him to the right direction.

"Thanks, man" he spits as he makes the short distance towards her. He can feel his heart racing, and he can hardly breathe. When he gets to the right door, he hears her screaming from the other side, so he bursts the door open and stands there with alarm, watching her there on the bed.

"What happened? why are you screaming?" he asks in confusion.

"You stupid man." she shouts at him from the bed "why do you think I'm screaming? it's all your fault, _you_ did it to me...!"

* * *

**A/N2: **OK OK, I know I'm an awful person. But it became much longer chapter than I have anticipated. We will all be introduced to Peanut, next chapter. I promise. I can feel some major fluffiness coming...


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N1: **OK. Busy week, one deadline is done, one more to go, but at least I managed to write the last chapter in a reasonable time.

This is the last chapter of this fic. I want to express my thanks to each of you who've read, followed, favored, and reviewed this fic. Writing in this fandom is a unique experience, you are all so supportive and lovely. I hope this last chapter will be worthy of your expectations, and will be in synch with the rest entire fic. I don't have children, but I still hope it came out accurate and appropriate. I was counting on my imagination and common sense, as well as on my version for Kono and Steve.

Please leave me a review and tell me what you think.

Until the next one... :)

* * *

"You're doing great Kono. You can relax now for a while" Dr. Lee tells her when she stops pushing and tries to catch her breath. "Nice to see you again commander, would you like to join us?" she doesn't even look at him, and he wonders what exactly she means by asking him to join them. He would do it gladly, but he honestly can't identify a place in which he can actually contribute.

"Steve" Malia says quietly, indicating for him to come and stand beside Kono, "you're standing over here."

He steps quickly, with a sigh of relief to where Malia is standing holding Kono's back.

"You'll be fine" Malia says to the both of them when she changes places with him, and it looks like they both look at her in concern when she's ready to leave them on their own "I love you, both" she smiles reassuringly "I'll see you later, when there's three of you. OK? " she kisses Steve on his cheek, and gives Kono a long tender kiss on the top of her head, she makes her way towards the door.

()()()

"Hi" he whispers to her, moving the hair away from her sweaty face, and kisses her tenderly on her lips. He takes a hold of her hand, as he stands close by her side.

"Hi, babe" she tells him quietly "I'm glad that you're here."

"You're being nice to me because there's no contractions now, are you?" he asks with a smile, raising his eyebrow at her. She has no time to answer because it just starts all over again, and he thinks she'll break his thumb with the force in which she presses it.

"Almost there" Dr. Lee is saying reassuringly. "Pace yourself, because we'll need a few more pushes in a minute."

"I can't hold back" Kono mumbles "I have to push now."

"Just a second" Dr. Lee tells her "I'll tell you when... in a second... OK, now. Push Kono..."

He is tall and strong enough, so he can stand by her, and support her back, giving her a way to push against him, as he looks at what the doctor is doing, and he can see the head coming out slowly, with a wet black hair on the top. It's the same color as Kono's hair, and he feels like his heart is going to burst out of his ribcage with excitement and awe.

"He's really small" he whispers in her ear, not even sure if she can hear him at this point "I think you can probably take him..."

"Well done, Kono" Dr. Lee is saying "almost there..."

It's really fast from then on. Suddenly the head is completely out, and the rest of him just slides out quickly after. Before they have time to catch their breaths, and before he can turn and tell her how well she'd done, and how beautiful their son is, there's a loud crying sound that fills the room. He can't speak, can't move. He can just hold her forcefully against him, and watch the quick movements of Dr. Lee and the nurse as they hold the baby, and take care of him. He hears her gasp in astonishment when she watches every move, too.

"I'm not going to let you cut the umbilical cord" Dr. Lee explains as she adjusts the clamp and does it herself "I don't really believe in letting emotionally challenged men running around with scissors around the delivery room... There. All done. A beautiful, healthy baby boy. Want to hold him?" she smiles towards Kono.

She nods enthusiastically, her face wet from sweat and tears. She reaches her arms to receive the precious bundle, as she repositions herself on the bed, still pressed against Steve's chest. He can only look, with growing emotion, as she's holding their son against her bosom, slowly caressing his small face with her finger, and whispers to him "I love you, my darling boy."

The baby opens his eyes and looks back at her, at least it looks like he's looking at her, and he has this astonished and serious expression on his face. He feels his heart clenches inside his chest, when he sees the new connection that is formed between them. He tightens his hold around her shoulders, and kisses her temple tenderly.

"We did it!" she smiles, looking up at his face, and tracing her finger lovingly on his face, the same way she did with his son. "He looks just like you..." she whispers "so beautiful."

"He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen..." he agrees. "I simply...I can't even..."

"Yeah." she laughs, shaking her head towards the small creature "totally!"

()()()

It takes a while until they finish all the medical stuff. They take him away from them for some cleaning and for several quick tests. Kono orders him to stay next to the baby, which he does, obviously, watching the nurse like a hawk as she's handling the baby in an experienced ease that overwhelms him for a second. Dr. Lee is taking care of Kono in the mean time, it's all done in about thirty minutes, until everything is clean and organized around them. Then the nurse hands him the baby, and he holds his son for the first time.

He's so small, he suspects he can hold him using only one hand. Fortunately, he is much too scared of Kono to actually test this theory at this stage. He walks with the baby, who is currently sleeping, and sits on the bed beside her.

They both sit there, and she's wrapping her arms around the both of them, looking at her son over his shoulder. It's quiet, and it's like the three of them are alone in the world. She doesn't say anything, just strokes Steve's hair gently.

"He's sleeping." he tells her quietly.

"He had a very busy day" she smiles.

"Doesn't he need to eat or something?" he asks with concern.

"He'll let us know when he's hungry" she promises "don't worry."

They are hypnotized by the sight of him, can't take their eyes away, even for a second. They count his quick breaths, and watch his miniature hands under the blanket.

"So... what now?" he asks suddenly.

She only shrugs. "I haven't a clue."

()()()

Eventually they remember that all their friends are still out there, and they should probably let them know that the baby is born and everything is OK, so he puts the baby in the hospital crib, and goes to the waiting room.

He finds Danny and Chin and Malia there, as well as the entire Kalakaua clan. They are all jumping around him, and hugging him, and all of them are talking and shouting at the same time. It's funny, because he can't understand any of what their saying, but they look as happy as he feels, so he guesses it's all good. When Kono's mother takes a hold of his shoulders and hugs him affectionately, kissing him on both cheeks, he realizes that everything will be different from now on.

()()()

He doesn't even try to stop them, he just follows the crowd that storms into the delivery room. When he finally manages to squeeze himself in, the baby is already in Kono's mother's arms, and the boys are all over their sister almost knocking her off the bed as all of them are trying to hug her at the same time.

"He looks just like you" Kono's mother says to her daughter, looking at the small baby with a wide smile.

"He looks just like Steve, and you know it" Kono laughs.

"He has your hair, and your eyes..." she contradicts.

"His eyes are blue, mom. You can see perfectly well they are blue."

They move him around from hand to hand, because they all want to touch him and kiss him, and Steve starts to feel uncomfortable with the whole thing.

"Relax, Steve" Kono's father puts his big hand on his shoulder "the baby will be fine."

"Yeah... I know" Steve mumbles "but I really don't think he likes it."

"The kid is fine" Chin tells him from the other side "he doesn't even cry. I have to admit he is much more patient than to be expected from a product of you and Kono..."

He looks at her questioningly when they still move him around like this, but she doesn't seem concerned. She just smiles and nods to the compliments everyone throws on their beautiful child. He tries to contain the agitation he feels when the baby is out of his reach like that, and the fact that Chin and Danny are looking at him, almost bursting in laughter when they see his familiar expression, doesn't make it easier.

Danny is the last to hold him. He looks at his partner with alarm, when he notices his eyes fill with moisture, and his chin starts to quiver.

"Are you sensitive right now?" he asks with suspicion.

"A little bit, yes" Danny says, looking at the baby in his arms.

"Are you going to cry?" Steve asks with apprehension "because I don't want you to drop him..."

"I'm not going to drop him, you insensitive monster" Danny objects. "I was holding babies in my arms when you were still in Navy school."

"There isn't any Navy school, and you know it" Steve looks at him with irritation "will you please stop talking and concentrate? when you talk, you tend to move your arms too much."

"Don't worry, baby SEAL" Danny says to the small baby in his arms "uncle Danny will protect you from this dense, and cold hearted amateur... so how you're gonna call him?" he looks up at Kono and Steve.

There's a quiet in the room, suddenly, and Steve realizes that he hasn't a clue. He looks at Kono's mother, because he assumes she already made her decision, but before she has time to answer, Kono says "John. John McGarrett."

"I thought you wanted an Hawaiian name" he says after a few seconds when he realizes what she's saying, and his voice is shaking with the way she just blurts it out, without any preparation.

"I did. But I thought you would like it more, if we called him after your father."

"I do" he says seriously, looking at her with burning eyes "Very much. But how did you..."

She only smiles at him, and reaches for him with her hand, and he steps forward and buries his face in the crook of her neck holding her tightly against him.

"This is not a big deal, baby" she whispers to him with a smile "we'll pick a Hawaiian name for the next one..."

()()()

It takes some time until they get her to a proper room, on the floor. Most of the time is spent on trying to evacuate her overbearing family, and persuade them to go away. It's when the head nurse threatens to prevent them from coming again, that they finally agree to leave. He goes home to take a shower and change, to bring her stuff, and to make sure that Kai is fed and is doing alright. When he's back, he finds her sitting on the bed quietly, nursing their son.

"Wow" he says as he moves the curtain and finds them like that.

"I think he likes it" she says seriously, looking at little John's lips.

"I know how he feels..." he mumbles quietly, dropping the bag on the floor. He can't help but smile mischievously at the beautiful blush that covers her face with this statement.

"I hope your mom wasn't too upset with the name..." he says as he sits on the bed, putting his hand on her knee, and looking at his son suckling.

"She wasn't. She said I was being very loyal and very loving to suggest it."

"So... basically... she's gonna blame this one on _me_." he sighs.

"Pretty much" she nods, "and she's never going to forget it."

"Great" he mumbles, "I can't do anything right by this woman."

"Well..." she moves the sleeping baby slowly from her bosom to her shoulder, and indicates towards herself in the process "you're doing everything right by this one..."

()()()

"So how is it?"

"You mean being a father?"

"No, I mean being a world famous male model. Of course I mean being a father." Danny rolls his eyes at him.

"It's... it's good. Yeah. It's pretty good."

"Now you can see why we never send you to do undercover work. You are a terrible liar."

"I'm not lying" Steve exclaims "I'm very happy, and the baby is... " he smiles to himself "the baby is awesome."

"Go on..." Danny encourages him "I feel like a major breakthrough is coming. You are actually going to tell me how you feel..."

"It's just... there's not a lot I can actually do with him..."

"Do with him? what do you mean _do_ with him? you're not supposed to do anything with him besides keeping him alive and let him grow, Fuck Steve... what _did_ you try to do?"

"Well... it's not my fault, Danno. I only tried to be involved. Kono is doing all the feeding, and she is so efficient, by the time I get home, she's already done with all the changing and the washing and everything, and she's so tired she just hands him over, and tells me to bond with him, but..."

"But...?" Danny looks amused.

"He can't talk, or play with anything yet, and Kono told me to stop reading him from "The art of war", because it will give him nightmares, so I have to wait until she actually falls asleep to be able do it, because he has to hear it, obviously... So I have nothing to do but hold him around the house, and talk to him... which, you know... talking... me... so when I tried to take him to the ocean..."

"You took a four weeks old baby to the ocean? are you out of your mind?"

"Kono didn't mind, and there wasn't any sun, because it was evening already, but he was crying so hard, I really don't think he liked it. I mean he's Kono's and mine, how can he not like it?"

"Steve, Babe. When I call him a baby SEAL, it's only as a term of endearment. I don't really mean he's an actual seal. The water are way too cold this time of the year..." he shakes his head with exasperation "can't you two act like normal human beings and just put him in the bathtub?"

"Yeah..." Steve moves his hand, scratching his face "that was exactly what her mother said, when she caught me doing it..."

()()()

It's one Friday afternoon, when Steve is back from work, and climbs up the stairs to find Kono sleeping on the bed, and little John lying awake in the crib by the window. They moved the crib to the bedroom, when they first brought him to the house, because Kono couldn't stand the idea of him sleeping away from her. He takes him in his arms and steps out of the room, letting her sleep. When he passes the bathroom, he sees the little bathtub full with water, ready for John's bath.

"I guess it's time for another try, buddy" he tells the baby who only looks at him with a somewhat surprised expression. "Just try not to freak out too much, because mommy is sleeping and we don't want her to wake up and kill daddy for doing something wrong, OK?"

He manages to take the baby's clothes off without too many problems, and he feels the water and estimates the temperature to be just about right. When he slowly puts him in the bathtub, he realizes he is actually holding his breath.

It's a fucking miracle, because the baby doesn't cry, and starts moving his limbs around in the water, and makes some giggling sounds that makes Steve look at his face with surprise. When he looks at him, the baby is smiling towards him brightly, and it feels like an arrow is hitting him right in the heart, suddenly.

"So you do like the water after all, do you babe?" he laughs back at him.

There are more happy giggles that comes out of John's mouth, when he stretches his limbs again.

"Good" he says taking the baby soap from the counter "next week we'll take you surfing. I don't care what uncle Danny or your tutu have to say about it."

()()()

She comes to HQ to meet the guys for lunch, and convinces Malia to come too. When they get there, the three of them are in a middle of a case, and they have a briefing around the smart table.

"It wasn't random" Chin explains to the other two, moving some pictures on the screen "all three victims were at the same bank in Honolulu, in different days in the last several weeks."

"So you think they are all from the same crew?" Danny asks "because this bank wasn't actually robbed."

"Maybe they were excluded from a bigger operation?" Steve suggests "are there any other recognizable faces?"

"I don't know, I have nothing to compare it with" Chin confesses.

"You can run it through the face recognition software I've created, and run it against the HPD archive" Kono says, walking towards the smart table, with John strapped in his baby carrier "here, I'll show you."

Steve takes the child from her, and holds him against him, and she's working her magic on the computer, explaining to Chin exactly what to do. When she finishes, she notices nobody is listening to her, they all make faces to the baby, who is giggling in Steve's arms.

"Will you all concentrate please?" she rolls her eyes at her teammates, "I swear, it's completely irresponsible to leave you all to work here without me."

"We are doing fine, babe" Steve smiles to his son, as he holds him up in the air in front of him "you're on vacation, remember?"

"Vacation? you're joking..."

He looks at her with concern, because she sounds a bit angry. "Please don't..." Danny and Chin whisper to him.

"Of course you are... for at least one more month, hopefully more... it's your time off with the..."

"I'm not on _vacation_" she cries in irritation "I'm slaving my butt off, while you just run around having fun with your guns and your precious criminals."

"Give him to me" Danny sighs "I don't want you to hold him when she kicks your ass... sometimes I wonder why I even bother to tell you things, it's obvious you don't listen..."

"Chin?" Malia says when Kono and Steve glare at each other with murderous looks "remember I told you I want one, too?"

"Yes..." Chin looks at her questioningly.

"We could probably wait for a while..."

()()()

It's been a while since they were able to do it, so he's really surprised when they sit in the living room watching a movie, and he happens to look at her and sees her watching him with intent, biting her lower lip.

"What?" he asks, watching the baby monitor, wondering if he'd missed something.

"It's time" she tells him quietly, looking at his mouth.

"What time?" he asks in confusion "what's wrong?"

"I want to have sex..."

"Really?" he smiles brightly "are you sure? because it's a really nice movie, maybe we should finish it before we..."

"Commander! Bed. Sex. Now!" she orders, and it's all the invitation he needs. Before she has time to say anything, he's crashing her against him, and attacking her mouth with his lips. "Let's go upstairs" she whispers, when he releases her lips and moves to her jaw.

"What's wrong with the couch?" he spits back "we both know it has enough room..."

"It's the first time we're doing it since John was born, I want to feel comfortable."

She drags him upstairs, even though they make a few stops on the way, to continue with the kissing, and to get rid of their clothes, but they get to the bedroom, eventually, and drop on the bed.

"The baby is here..." he mumbles, as he helps her out of her underwear.

"He'd already seen me naked" she mumbles back, biting his shoulder in that way that always turns him on.

"Yeah... but..."

"He wouldn't remember, I swear. I mean, _do you remember_ your parents having sex?"

He stops in the middle of kissing her between her breasts and looks at her mortified.

"I think you've just ruined it for me for the rest of my life..."

"I'm sure you'll manage" she whispers, reaching with her hand under his boxers. She's right. He's all over it in two seconds.

When they hold each other forcefully, and start moving together, and her breaths are coming ragged and shallow more and more, and when she's almost there, where he wants her, and he's feeling himself pulled to the peak inside her, the baby starts crying in his crib.

"Jeez" he breathes in frustration "the kid got Mary Ann's timing, I swear it."

"Wait a second, maybe he'll fall asleep again..."

They wait without breathing for a few more seconds, but it's no use. He kisses her chastely on her lips, and gets up to take him from his crib.

"Hey, hey little buddy. Don't cry. If anyone should be crying here, it's probably me..." he whispers, and he hears Kono's laugh from the bed.

When he hands her the baby, and she sits up to nurse him, he lies on his stomach beside her, with his arm around her waist.

"Don't worry, daddy knows you didn't do it on purpose" she says to the suckling baby, who looks at her with concentration.

"He only wants to maintain his resources, and remain an only child..." Steve mumbles from under the pillow.

"We're having a second child in two and a half years from now, there's nothing he can do about it" she says casually.

"We are?" he raises his head, and looks at her curiously.

"Yes. What did you think?"

"I didn't, actually" he tells her.

"Just lie down and rest, Steve" she rolls her eyes at him "when I finish feeding him, we'll start practicing again. Just don't fall asleep, because I'll wake you up anyway, and I don't want to be forced to hurt you."

"I won't" he promises, still looking at her in astonishment. "You've got our whole life figured out already, have you?"

"Of course, I have. What did you think?"

"Anything else I need to know about?" he asks in confusion as she stands up, with the baby positioned on her shoulder "because normally I'm the one with the plans, and not you."

"Let me think..." she says slowly, moving towards the crib, and putting the sleeping baby back in his bed "yes. I guess you should know that we're getting married in three months, and that I expect a nice diamond ring by the end of the week, so I hope you have a good idea of what you're going to buy..."

"Yes" he whispers with his eyes glinting at her, as she moves towards him, naked, and beautiful and smiling "I do!"

* * *

**A/N2**: a sort of a sequel - a collection of one-shots that happens after this storyline is regularly updated. It's called: "Calculated Steps".


End file.
